Lost
by Echo Of Insanity
Summary: " Max was dragged from her cage. 'Whats going on?" she was yelling.'They're letting you go'Letting me go? but what about y-' She saw my eyes and I knew it was over. My name formed on her lips and then she was gone, pulled out the door and I was alone.
1. Chapter 1

_**Echo Of Insanity**_

Chapter One- The Beginning

_A/N: I am a girl writing (mainly) from the point of view of a guy. (Fang) Nobody mess up that point. Fang just comes naturally to me._

3rd person pov 

The fire held him entranced. The flames seemed to dance as they cast a red light on the figures of the sleeping flock that surrounded it, and dark shadows elsewhere. Fang tore his gaze from the leaping fire and looked around the flocks small camp, and the area beyond it. To his right lay Nudge and Angel in a vague heart shape with Total nestled in the middle. He bet it was warm between the two girls. Angel hugged Celeste close to her chest and one hand resting on Total. The small black dog yawned as if he sensed Fang's eyes on him. Nudge, for once, had her mouth shut.

To his left Iggy's mouth hung open, his wings were stretched out a little and lay relaxed on his back. His arm was thrown over Gazzy's stomach. The eight year old was snoring loudly. Perhaps that's why he never heard their approach, or perhaps because directly ahead of him, sleeping peacefully lay Max.

Her hair was spread around her head like halo. She faced outwards from their little circle, protecting the flock even in sleep. Fangs face relaxed into a slightly tired smile as he looked at her. His heart began to beat a little faster, he could feel his pulse jumping in his throat. It was always this way when he looked at Max.

He was not so disciplined as to stop his gaze from sliding down her sleeping figure, following every curve and line. He drank her in like he was a boy dying of thirst and she was water. Filling his sight with her profile, but it was not enough, he knew that. He knew that it would never be enough. The stolen kisses he had gotten from her haunted him in these moments, when it was just him and the night sky.

A twig broke. He snapped around to face the sound. Nothing. Perhaps a small animal. Or perhaps not. Life's experiences had taught him otherwise. Fang stood up and began a tight 360.

His fists stood bunched before him, feet spread into a fighting stance. Fang's breath fogged up in front of his face, shrouding it in mist. It was getting cold early for October. The leaves were only just beginning to change, the edges tinted with the Autumns fiery colours.

Behind Fang a yellow eye was caught in the firelight. Dripping fangs shone sick in grins made twisted by the flickering flames.

The eraser's plan was simple: capture the dark one and the leader and 'the flock' would plunge into chaos. And here, so nicely positioned were the two they wanted, one asleep and one with his back turned.

Fang had no time to react. He had just enough to feel a new burst of hate and anger bury itself within him before he was on the ground. The last thing he saw was a black boot coming towards his head, the last thing he felt was his head snap to the side, the last thing he tasted was his own blood filling his mouth with its metallic taste. Before the blackness came. His last thought bounced and echoed throughout the dark, one word repeated over and over…..Max.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two - Another Day, Another Whitecoat**

Fang pov: 

Owww…..my head. My hands came up of their own accord to curl around my ears. I heard a low moan to my right. Turning, I reallised two things simultaneously:

1) I was in a medium sized Kanine Kamper, like I wasn't important enough for a large.2) To my right, was Max.2.a) Max was in a large Kanine Kamper. Life is cruel.

I know that's really three, but c'mon, I've just woken up from being kicked into unconsciousness. Give me a break.

I shuffled to the side of my cage. Max was facing me and her eyes cracked open. I'd hate to wake up to the sight of my best friend behind bars and mesh wire framed my a dog crate. Of course this is exactly what happened to me not moments ago. Add to that happy mixture the fact that said best friend is the love of my life, pour on some salt, squeeze on the lemon juice. Stir. Taste. Multiply by something like ten to the power of ten. That bitter, salty taste my friend, is something like what I was going through."Fang?" I was dragged back from my musings by a very confused, very worried looking Max."Where the hell are we!" I looked around for the first time, taking in my surroundings. Though I could have guessed simply from the fact that I was sitting in a dog crate. It was then that the smell hit me. Plastic, metal, antiseptic, floor cleaner. Blood.

I tried to control the look of horror on my face but Max knew. I saw her mouth the words in horror:

"The School"

Max lunged forward, grabbing onto the mesh wire with her fingertips. She was beginning to panic.

"Why are we here? How did they get us? Where's the flock? Did they get them too? Oh god, what the H-E-DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS IS GOING ON!"

"Max." I spoke quietly and gripped her fingers through the mesh, stroking them slightly. My fingertips burned where they touched her. A slight shiver found its way down my back.

She was biting her lip and her eyes look tormented. She was worried. Not about herself, but for the flock."It's going to be okay" _Liar. _"We'll find out what's going on." _Sooner or later. Probably sooner. _"I don't think the flock are here. I think they just wanted us." _Another possible lie, they could just be separated from us and in another room. Well done Fang, you genius you, you got her hopes up. Smart, real smart. Now what happens if they all come crashing down? _

I couldn't think about that. All I needed was for the lies to calm her down. It worked. Max uncoiled herself. She seemed more like the bad-ass leader we all love. I can tell you, she got her game face on at the right time.

The door across the room opened. At first all I saw was were sensible shoes and a whitecoat flapping around this 'person's' (and I use 'person in the loosest sense of the word, the devils offspring. Yeah, that seems a bit more suitable) calves. _Here we go again, another day another whitecoat. _When he got down on his knees in front of us though, I felt ice capture my body and my expression turn to stone. Max's eyes flashed dangerously and then hardened but I knew she was as shocked as I was.

If looks could kill. If only, if only. The person kneeling in front of us would be ripped apart, stabbed, crushed and burnt. Maybe I'm just being nice. Then I would take great delight in dancing upon his ashes -a most un-fanglike thing to do.

Max's voice was almost pleasant. Almost.

"So here's the bad guy we all love to hate." it didn't last long. Her voice changed to a snarl as she spat the words at him, laced with poison. She was only short of hissing and I would have hissed along with her.

"Long time no see, how ya been? _**Dad?**__"_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - You Really Wanna Know What I'd Do To Ya?**

Fang pov 

Jeb blinked a little at Max's winning speech.

"There is no need for such hostility Maximum" He turned his head toward me.

" Fang." He nodded his head.

" Jeb." I nodded back. "If I weren't in a dog crate I'd give you a hug." I bared my teeth in a mock grin. Jeb flinched. My grin broadened.

Fang: 1/ Jeb: 0.

Max gave me the thumbs up.

"Oscar winning Fang, Oscar winning. Oh, and a couple of golden globes too. You'd make a great vampire villain."

I grinned at her. I raised my arms above my head (well as much as one can when one is in a FREAKIN' CAGE!). My fingers became claws and I put on my best Transylvanian accent "I vant to suck your blood!" Not as good as Gazzy but it did the trick, it made Max laugh. I risked a glance back at Jeb to see him turning a rather unhealthy shade of purple. Poor chap obviously doesn't much like being ignored. Oh, if only I had popcorn. If only, if only.

I could almost see him counting to one hundred in his head. I decided to count with him. I got to seventy eight before he returned to his normal colour. He took a deep breath and turned to face us again.

"You may be laughing now but don't you want to hear about the flock?"

He knew he had us their. All traces of joking left our faces. I caught a flicker of panic mixed with worry flash in Max's eyes before she masked it.

One eyebrow raised, her voice held an almost mild curiosity. But I knew better.

"I presume your going to tell us anyway?" There. I spotted the almost undetectable edge in her words. If you didn't know her, you never would have heard it. But Jeb heard it. Jeb was _waiting_ for it.

"Well Maximum," He smirked. "I presume you want to know?"

Max's eyes flashed. She was dangerous in these kind of moods. Trust me, I've experienced it first hand.

Unfortunately there were bars in front her. So for today I wasn't going to see Jeb Batchelder get his ass kicked….and I was still in a cage. Doesn't life just adore me?

Max spoke snapping me out of my thoughts and back into the real world. Well, it was more like she snarled. But this is not the time or the place to be getting into technicalities, so I wont.

"If you have done anything to the flock I will rip out one of these bars," she ran a nail down one of the metal bars that created the door to her cage. It let out a low rasping sound. Her nail caught on the mesh strung from each bar. She left it there as she finished her sentence.

"…..I will rip out one of these bars with my bare hands and drive it through your neck!" She smiled sweetly at him. Bad ass or what?

Yet Jeb looked pretty unimpressed. A little paler but unimpressed.

I'd thought he'd forgotten about me but I was wrong. What's new?

"And what will you do Fang?" Like he cared. Cared for me, cared for my opinion. Like what I said next mattered so much to him. It was a lie. Or maybe he just wanted to know how he was going to die.

I thought about it for a moment and then smiled, as if we were having a perfectly pleasant and ordinary conversation, as if the man in front of me didn't make me sick, as if I didn't want to gut him and feed his liver to the wolves, as if I didn't know that anything I said could kill me. Me, being me, carried on, tempting fate with every word I uttered.

"Well Jeb, it involves broken glass, acid and barbed wire. Perhaps a knife or two." I nodded as if I had made a big decision.

"yes a knife or two would be a nice addition."

Jeb had gone still and completely white, the blood drained out of him to leave a ghost behind. It gave me such a buzz.

My pleasant smile changed in an instant to a manic grin, an unsheathed knife. I leaned forward, enjoying whatever terror I had produced. More than I should have. Later, it would scare me.

His eyes never left mine. "its very, very messy."

His eyes widened and Jeb snapped out of whatever trance he'd been in and I came back to myself with a rush. Max and I were still behind bars and at his mercy.

Max.

_You idiot! What if he hurts her because of what you just said?_

Fortunately, Jeb didn't look as if he was going to hurt anyone just yet. He didn't look scared anymore, or angry or anything really. Just tired.

" You two were the only ones taken. The rest of the flock are safe where you left them, though I expect they've moved on by now, since last night." He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose before putting them back on. A gesture so familiar to me from before. He looked at us. Hard.

"we want only you two. There are a few….. Interesting experiments you're to be a part of."

It was my turn to go cold. Why only the two of us? And what kind of experiments? Before I got a chance to open my mouth Jeb was gone, his white coat flapping around his leg in an invisible breeze as he walked through the door. He didn't look back.

You know how the saying goes. If you love some one let them go. If they come back, shoot them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four- The First Day of The End of Your Life

_**A/N: Hey people! The saying is actually "if you love someone let them go. If they come back, they're yours." I just tweaked it a little…=D Enjoy!**__P.s. I have exams for a little while so bear with me and my irregular updating._

When Jeb left there was nothing to do but sleep. Sleep dreamlessly and wake up.

_This is your wake up call, welcome to another day in hell. _

The thought flitted through my mind before I had even opened my eyelids. I pulled myself into a technically upright position and turned to see if Max was awake. She was.

Her knees were in against here chest and she had her arms wrapped around them, her chin resting on the tops of her knees. Her hair was a tangled mess of curls framing her face. Two brown eyes burned, framed by thick lashes. She looked fierce, vulnerable, _beautiful_….all at once. Guess what I was? Hungry.

Hey, no matter how in love I am with the girl I can't forget the basic need to eat….or rather my stomach wont.

Max smiled at the sound of my stomach making its presence known. She put a hand behind her and came back with a piece of bread.

"Here." She pushed it through the mesh, piece by piece. I held my head back under her hand, open mouth waiting for the bits of bread to fall. She laughed a little as I sat up, happily chewing my stale bread. Hey, I've had worse.

Pulling another bit of bread from behind her she chewed it thoughtfully.

"What torture do you suppose lies in wait today?" I shrugged.

"Something unpleasant?" She looked down, away from my eyes.

"Max." She met my eyes again, unflinching.

"We'll get through it." She nodded. I didn't think I had actually convinced her.

"How long?" I raised an eyebrow. It was what we used to do back when we didn't know what freedom was. Guess how long it would be untill they came to get us. I hadn't thought she would remember the game. Yeah, that's what passed for a game in this cesspit. Betting on how long they'd leave you till you were pulled from your cage and tortured again.

I looked out the only small window. It was set up high on the right wall. There was nothing in the room but us, our cages, white walls, white tile floors, the window and the white door directly ahead of us. The strip of sky I could see was a pale washed out blue. The colour of faded jeans. I guessed it was about eight in the morning.

"Twenty minutes." It was her turn to cock an eyebrow.

"I give them five."

Turns out we were both wrong.

Not seconds after she had spoken the door burst open and in poured four erasers, fully morphed. Two each. Oh, how they underestimate us.

The first eraser-lets call him Bob shall we?- Bob was grinning. I didn't understand why untill he pulled an electric probe from behind his back. One touch and you'd be on the floor writhing in pain.

So I guess this would mean that from this point on, underestimation of our dear selves has, unfortunately, ended. Oh woe is me. I don't know when I was more disappointed-when they do underestimated us or when they don't? Decisions, decisions…..

Bob touched the probe to one of the bars on my cage. I jumped a little as I felt the electricity run through it. The floor of my cage was plastic. Thank God for small mercies, now if he could just get us out of here I'd be eternally grateful. Bob laughed. Sadistic bastard.

The second eraser (Joe? No he looks like a Mike.)- Mike bent to open Max's cage. She crawled out and stood up with as much dignity as she could muster. Which wasn't a lot.

My exit contained even less. They grabbed our arms. I got Mike and Bob (the sadistic bastard). Max's arms were already being held by the two other erasers (now HE looks like a Joe. Hmm….Joe and….Antoine. Has a nice ring to it.) She was struggling. Within a few seconds she had wriggled her arm free. Joe and Antoine didn't seem to have much experience with uncooperative captives. Do all the other experiments just hang their heads and accept their faith? Had they ever struggled? Maybe it had been beaten out of them…maybe they were just smarter then us. Sounds more like it.

The erasers holding Max had finally realized the fact that the person they were holding was about to make a break for it.

Bob dropped one of my arms to go over to Max, Joe and Antoine had regained control. (Damn.) He pulled the probe around to face her, holding it up to her collarbone as if it were a sword. Some Knight. Is back was to me but I could see fear widen Max's eyes and I could practically _feel _that freaking god-damned grin spread across his face. He would shock her. I knew it, he knew it, Max knew it.

Bob didn't know I could break out of one erasers hold. His loss.

I wrenched an arm from Mike's grip, shoulders screaming. The eraser cried out, trying to hold onto me. Bob turned, saw me trying to get to Max. His smile became bigger, wider, brighter. So bright it hurt to look at. The probe came towards Max, painfully slow and yet too fast. I watched Max prepare her self for god-only-knows amount of electricity to go through her and leave her in agony. I couldn't let that happen. Pulling my caught arm free I whirled and caught Mike in the mouth with a fist. I made a dash for it barreling into Max, pushing her from me, from the probe.

I turned.

The probe came down.

I saw his grin, heard his laugh.

Then I felt it.

Electricity running through every vain, making every nerve scream out in a pain I hadn't felt in such a long time. Familiar agony. Knowing you've felt it before and will feel it again.

Familiarity doesn't protect against it though.

The edges of my vision went fuzzy and grey, gradually eating away at my vision, turning it steadily black.

I felt my knees crash into the floor….or did the floor crash into my knees?

I heard Max call my name from far away. Where was she? Why wasn't she here? Where was I? Was I at the other end of a tunnel? Was Max calling from the other side?

I should go to her, she's calling me, needs me….I should go to her….

I was barely aware of my head hitting the ground. The silence rushed through my head, bringing in the blackness. It swamped my senses like a wave. And there it was. The nothing.

I fell into it hearing Max calling for me and knowing I couldn't get to her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five- Breakfast With the Devil. **

I woke up in a room I didn't recognize. Been doing a lot of that. Knocked out twice in as many days and nights. Do I sense a habit forming? God, I hope not.

I sat up in a pure white bed, silky bed spread falling around my waist. I was still wearing the dirty black t-shirt and jeans I'd been wearing for the last two days but my shoes were missing. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed my bare feet touched cold tiles. I pulled the neck of my t-shirt down. There was a white/purple starburst above my heart where the electricity had entered my body. I took another look at my t-shirt. It was hard to see against the black cloth but there was a small burn mark where the probe had touched me. Damn sadistic erasers. That was my favourite shirt.

I took a look around. Everything was white: tiled floor, walls, bed, curtains, door. _What else would you expect from White Coats Fang? Everything to be bloody pink? _I shuddered at the thought. Trust me, Pink Coats would be way worse than White Coats.

I got up. The sun was streaming through the window, stinging my eyes. My shadow flared on the wall as I reached for the door. A cloud passed the window and it was gone. I walked down a hallway, my footsteps echoing. There were no doors leading off it. It led to a kitchen. The sun glinted off all the shiny silver appliances. My eyes fell on a kitchen knife left out on a breadboard. It winked at me. I turned away, trying to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach. I was now facing open glass doors that led onto a balcony. A gust of wind came, the flimsy white curtains billowed outwards. They were for show, nothing more. Stepping out onto the balcony I could see Death Valley spread out before me. All its dusty hills and cracks, desert radiating outwards for miles. I could see the sky, azure blue, and I could breathe again.

The balcony ended to my left. It wrapped around the building. I was about four storey's up in the air. I walked down the balcony. There was nothing special about it, a few potted plants, a corner coming up about five meters from the balcony door. I turned the corner, slowed and then sped up to a full on sprint.

Max was handcuffed to the railings. She was on her knees. Her head was down, spilling tangled hair and hiding her face. I fell to my knees in front of her.

"Max! Max, are you okay? Can you hear me?" She painfully raised her head. A bruise was forming on her right cheek and there were bloody scrapes running down her arms. Her t-shirt was shredded at the hem and she had claw marks curving down her stomach in great bloody lines. I felt anger rise in my stomach like acid. She tried to form a smile. It came out as a grimace.

"Fang." She found the strength to smile again. "You saved me."

"Obviously not. Who did this to you? Was it the erasers? The White Coats?"

"Thank you."

"Shhh Max." I brushed some hair from her face, my hands lingering there a little longer than they should. I gingerly touched the bruise on her cheek. She flinched and I drew my hand back as if shed burnt me.

"Who did this."

"Fa-"

"Max. Who did this." I was spitting the words out, biting off the ends.

Her eyes were wide.

"Fang. Jeb." She whispered the words.

"Good morning Fang." I spun into a crouch to see Jeb come out of an identical pair of glass doors. He was wearing a robe. White, of course.

"Isn't it wonderful to see such a beautiful thing as her first thing in the morning?'

" So you can stare at her pretty face and know you've hurt her?" I stood up, blocking Max from his view. "That how you get your kicks Jeb? Damaging pretty things?"

"Maybe we could talk about this over breakfast?" He gestured inside where I could see a table laid out and weighed down with food.

"Let her go and I'll consider not gutting you like a fish."

"With what Fang? You have no weapons."

I moved. Faster than I'd ever moved before. The world was a blur. The knife I'd found on the counter was now pressed against Jeb's neck. I'd slipped it into the deep pockets of my jeans. The sick feeling I'd gotten was from knowing I'd probably have to use it.

"I think you better fire your housekeeper. He left this out for me to find."

Jeb was utterly still under my hands. Hands that held a knife.

"Give me the key to the handcuffs." He dropped his hand into one of the pockets of his robe and pulled out a tiny silver key. I grabbed it from his hand and stepped back, releasing the pressure on his neck. Walking over to Max, I heard him hiss "You'll pay for that Fang."

I released Max's wrists. She fell forward and I caught her, swinging her up into my arms.

"Put it on my tab Jeb." I walked towards him. He took a few hurried steps back. " Do whatever you like to me, but if you hurt Max… I will kill you." I snagged some food from the table, filling my pockets.

"Oh, and another thing." I turned back to Jeb, who watched me with fearful eyes. "Our previous accommodation has been unsatisfactory." I, grinning, watched his eyes widen. I was still the one with the knife.

"From now on, we'll be staying in the room I just left. You'll see to it of course?" His mouth dropped to his knees. I walked away, cradling Max to my chest, and didn't wait for his stammered reply.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six-

_Okay people…mainly Beth. Moot point. They didn't run/fly away. I'll explain that in a minute. Ps. I didn't realise the last chapter was all bold and stuff…I've fixed that now. I think. If not, shit… Shit, shit and shit again. sighs and shrugs least I tried…_

I walked along the balcony hugging Max close to my body. She stirred, her eyes moving beneath her shut eyelids. I could see each vain lace her closed eyes with purple. She had conked out as soon as Jeb appeared. It must have taken a lot to talk to me for those few minutes.

I smiled into the face of each camera I passed. You really thought they'd let me walk around the School unsupervised? They didn't even bother with hidden cameras. These ones were top notch CCTV. They followed my every move, swiveling to see me go down the balcony.

I could have taken off, stretched my wings and got me and Max the heck outta here…..but I was betting the cameras weren't the only ones left to watch us. If we flew off the only way to bring us back was to shoot us. Let us fall from the sky. They wouldn't kill us. No they wanted us too badly for that. A bullet through a wing would sort that out. I felt my feet hit cold tile again as I moved through my apartment-like surroundings. You'd almost think we were in a hotel. I shifted Max's weight a bit, trying to free a hand to open the door to the bedroom. She groaned. I heard the glass doors slam shut and a click as a lock turned. A few seconds later I heard another click which, I presumed, would be the front door. I hadn't had time to explore yet so I couldn't be sure. Pulling the covers back, I started to lower Max gently onto the bed when I felt a vice grip on my arms. I froze my hands around her waist. I had yet to lower the top half of her body onto the bed.

I looked up to see she had snapped awake. Her eyes were watchful when they met my gaze.

"Fang?" A small smile was playing at her lips.

"Yes?" My body was so tense it came out in my words. It hurt, being so close to her and not able to touch her.

"What are you doing?" I couldn't help but smile as the words came out of my mouth.

"Putting you to bed, Princess. What does it look like?" She swiped at me as much as she could, laughing.

I pulled the covers over her and lay down on top of the covers beside her.

"Fang?"

"Mmm-hmm?"

"You'd make a great Knight." I chuckled. I felt her turn over and heard a gasp. She was curled into a ball and one hand was clutching her stomach. Her hand came away covered in blood.

"Oh god Max. I forgot."

"So did I," she gasped. "I think it was when I rolled over that reopened them." She was right. The bloody claw marks on her stomach were oozing blood, staining the white sheets red.

I ran from the room, through the apartment. I opened a door I never noticed just before the kitchen. It was a large white bathroom. I grabbed some tissue and ran back to Max. I left her again, clamping the tissue to her bleeding stomach. I rummaged through the presses in the bathroom untill I found a small first aid box. Grabbing a scissors I jogged back to the bedroom.

I yanked the bed clothes down and tried to pull Max's ruined t-shirt up a little. The claw marks were long but shallow. They bled a lot. I cleaned them and bandaged her up, cleaning the deep scrapes on her arms as well.

She lay very still as I cleaned the blood off her body.

"You know I've gone through worse." She said, watching me carefully as I bandaged her stomach. She _had_ been through worse…and those times I hadn't been able to help her. I looked away. She must have thought I was being so damn overprotective…but I couldn't help it.

"I know." I refocused on what I was doing and didn't meet her eyes.

When the bleeding finally stopped I could get her to sit up and eat some of the breakfast I had stolen from Jeb….a little pocket-squished but it tasted just fine.

As soon as I had gotten her to stomach something she lay back in the slightly stained bed and promptly fell asleep.

And I, being the stalker I am, sat on the edge of the bed and watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful, so unlike leader Max. It made me calm just looking at her.

God, I am such a creeper. Walking away, I did a little exploring. What I guessed was the front door (it was locked) was off the kitchen/dining area. To the left of the glass doors was the kitchen. To the right was a wall and another door. Opening the door I found myself staring at a fifty five inch flat screen TV surrounded by two white leather couches. My feet sank into the thick white carpet as I walked around. There was even a large white wood unit filled with DVD's. Hell wouldn't be so bad with free TV.

That was the extent of our very spiffy, very white apartment: one large white bathroom, one large white kitchen…actually lets just assume the obvious-everything in this freaking place was large and white. So…one kitchen, one bathroom, one balcony (locked, of course), one TV room and one bedroom.

Hang on…one bedroom? Shit. I did a quick re-check of the apartment. No extra bedroom. Shit. Sleep on one of the couches? It was a double bed, she was going to insist I sleep in it. This was going to be awkward.

And shit again.

So proves the theory that life was out to get me.

I was checking out the DVD's- not a bad selection by the way- pondering my sleeping arrangements when I heard a click, a scraping sound like someone pushing something over the tiled floor. I was halfway to the front door when I heard it slam and the click of the lock sound again.

Pushed a few feet in front of the door were a pile of clothes, tied together with string. On top, pushed under the string was a- surprise, surprise- brown envelope. All out of white in the office?

I put the letter aside and rummaged through the clothes. Two pairs of jeans, two white t-shirts, white socks, white sneakers etc. I didn't go any further into the pile in case I pulled out something meant specifically for Max and _definitely _not for me. I ripped open the letter. A folded sheet of paper fell into my hand. Scrawling black writing filled my vision. Scientist handwriting, familiar handwriting:

_Fang,_

_You'll get your way. For now._

_Take care of Max. You may lose her sooner than you think._

_Jeb_

Ooh, I can hear the ominous music now. I was half expecting him to put kisses at the end of it. He was NOT getting anywhere near Max. He could do anything to me but not her. Speaking of Max…I checked up on her. She was curled up, sleeping soundly. Time for a shower then. Might as well take advantage of the facilities. I grabbed the clothes that were meant for me. Once in the bathroom though, I held the white t-shirt up in disgust and threw it on the floor. I'd wear it if I had to but first I was going to see what could be done with my own, nice, BLACK t-shirt. Stripping it off I ran the hot water over it and scrubbed it with (probably) unnecessary amounts of soap. The water running into the drain was brown. Eventually the water ran clear and I squeezed most of the water out of it and lay it across the sink to dry. I hopped into the shower and scrubbed myself down. _(A/n: can I just say: yum! Okay I'm done now. Continue reading!) _Toweling off, I started pulling clothes on. It was only when I had my jeans on did I realize that there was no way I could wear a wet t-shirt, regardless of what colour it was. Damn. Sighing, I picked up the crumpled white t-shirt and slipped it on. I grabbed Max's clothes and made my way back to the bedroom. I glanced at the clock on the bedside table through clumps of my wet hair. It was falling in front of my face and was only short of dripping. It was about one in the afternoon (your eyes are the size of the moon- panic at the disco anybody? Ahhh-just me then). Max stirred and opened her eyes a little. She smiled at me.

"Hey."

'Hey." I dropped the clothes on the bed. "They're for you."

"Oh. Right." She chuckled.

"What?"

"You're wearing white."

"I don't see how this is as hilarious as you seem to find." She shook her head.

"It could be just the pain talking, but its just so damn unusual that I find it extremely amusing." Her body was shaking with so much contained laughter.

I, personally, didn't see what was so funny.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven - They're Coming to Get you!

_A/N folks!: I just thought I should spread the word seen as the power of the internet is at my fingertips…Sign this petition _**.**

**STOP KRISTEN STEWART AND ROBERT PATTINSON FROM PLAYING MAX AND FANG IN THE MOVIE! SIGN THE PETITION AND SAVE THE MOVIE! **Press ctrl and click to go to the site!

_PS. I cant tell you how much your reviews mean to me! They make me smile and jump about the room and feel all fuzzy inside! If I had no food I could _live_ on the reviews you kind readers send me!_

So, I Have decided to dedicate this chapter to The Winged Goddess of Freedom for telling me that if I wrote a book she would read it! Enjoy!

The rest of the day was spent with Max, waiting for my black t-shirt to dry off. Damn School and their damn white t-shirts. Talking, laughing, eating, watching movies, curled up together on the couches. I'd grabbed the cover off of Max and ran for the TV. She followed slower, laughing all the while. She sat down and threw the duvet over both of us and- get this!- _Snuggled_ up against me! My heart was about to break out of my ribcage and run, screaming, from the room. I cautiously wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She tensed, I tensed. She relaxed and I slowly brought my blood pressure back down. After my initial shock and heart palpitations I realized…it felt right. Holding Max. In my crazy, screwed up, torture filled life you don't take moments like these for granted, because as soon as you do some White Coat comes along and takes them away. Later, Jeb would get revenge. I didn't want to think about it, but my thoughts kept drifting back to the letter…_Take care of Max. You may lose her sooner than you think…_he wouldn't kill his own daughter? No, it wasn't Jeb's style. A more subtle but equally devastating torture awaited me. It wasn't going to be pleasant.

As the day wore on I felt dread gather in a tight knot at the pit of my stomach. I knew something was going to happen, but when? The waiting was the worst bit. Erasers coming out of no-where to try kick our butts and get an ass-kicking in exchange? I could take. Waiting. Was. Hell! But if hell was waiting, waiting while holding Max, I could hold up. Yeah, I'd survive. Jeb's revenge? I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.

Darkness was drawing. It was about six in the evening. The days were getting shorter. Not that it mattered in here. Somewhere, the flock were probably sitting under a tree. Iggy would be cooking and talking to Gazzy about their latest bomb, Nudge and Angel would have already remarked on how pretty the trees were getting and Total would probably launch into some longwinded monologue about a painting using the _exact_ same Autumn colours by Van Gogh or something like that. Max and I, had we been there, could have been planning were we were going the next day. I heaved an inward sigh. If I had been paying more attention on watch then none of this would have happened. Stupidity got me into this mess. Why couldn't it get me out?

The light coming through the window was a half-light. It turned everything to the blue of twilight. Shadows lengthened, objects became mere silhouettes. Max yawned. As the film we were watching came to a close and the credits flashed on screen Max's head slipped from my chest to my lap. She was asleep. I didn't want to wake her. Moving her as little as possible I slid my arms under her and carried her through the darkened apartment with the cover trailing from her sleeping form like a cape behind us. For the second time that day I put Max to bed. I brushed the hair out of her face then, kicking my sneakers off to land beside Max's as I went, I climbed into the bed beside her.

I let my eyelids droop closed and slipped into sleep…to be woken by the feel of cold metal circles around my wrists. My eyes snapped open. It was near pitch black. My attacker was just a darker outline in the dark room. I kicked out at him, presuming it was a him of course, and caught him in the stomach. I felt more handcuffs dig into my ankles with a click. I rolled, and ended up on the floor looking at another black outline. My hands and feet were bound. I hadn't screamed yet. Damn these tall, dark and silent genes in me! I was about to call out to Max when she began screaming bloody murder. Her wrists were already handcuffed but she was off the bed kicking out at anything that moved. Me, being smarter than the average bear, stayed still were I was. She moved to the other side of the room and I began the slow wriggle to freedom, otherwise known as the door. I was halfway across the room when a hand wrapped around my shin and yanked me back. Hard. I turned to find one of the darker shadows holding onto my foot while the other tripped max up and cuffed her struggling legs together. One of them picked her up and I barely contained a growl. My ankles were uncuffed and I was dragged to my feet. I shot a vicious kick at the guys shin. He swore and yanked a small taeser from his pocket, holding it up for me to see.

"I wouldn't do that again." I spat at him and struggled some more.

"I said I wouldn't do that again." He waved the taeser around wildly. "Or your little girlfriend gets it." I stood stock still. Max stopped wriggling in the other guys grip. I felt her eyes on the back of my skull. I felt her urging me to make a break for it. I didn't move, hardly breathed. The guy laughed…low and harsh. It ended in deep hacking coughs. Geeze dude, lay off the cigarettes.

"I thought that might get your attention, freak. Though I wouldn't want to damage such a pretty little angel girl." He made as if to stroke her face. I bit his outstretched arm. His hand snapped back in shock. I felt it slam into the side of my face. It sent me crashing to the ground with no hands to catch my fall. The same smokers laugh sounded above me. I stiffly got to my feet.

"Someone's protective, eh Rob?" The guy holding Max commented.

"Although I don't blame it," he continued. "She is such a pretty thing." His face came closer to hers. I growled. He jerked back up.

"Sure there's not some wolf in him?"

"You never know with these freaks. Lets just take them to the boss." I shuffled along in front of 'Rob the smoker', but behind the guy carrying the still squirming Max. We were led down halls, around corners, up a stairs and finally arrived in front of a door. The only thing that made this door noteworthy was the sign- Director.

"Jack, knock on the door." Rob sounded scared.

"You bloody do it! I've got me hands full!"

Rob hesitantly knocked on the door.

"Come in." The voice was muffled through the wood. Rob pushed open the door and shoved me in after it. A large wooden desk took up most of the room. Two filing cabinets stood to the side of the door. The far wall was a window. A laptop and some files sat on the desk. A mug of coffee lay steaming on the corner of the desk. A nameplate sat in the middle, beside the coffee. It just said 'Director'.

Jeb looked up from the file he was reading and smiled at me.

Jeb was the new Director of Itex, of the School.

"Fang, Max; how nice of you to join me. I've been waiting for you all day."

"Yeah? Well we got here as fast as we could." I once said to Iggy that if Max could have gotten through one day without a sarcastic remark I would have eaten anything she cooked. He took me up on the bet. Luckily, so far, I haven't lost.

Jeb loosened the tie of his black business suit.

"A little tight Jeb? Why don't you slip into something more comfortable?"

He looked a little taken aback.

"Well what would you prefer Fang? My lab coat?"

"No. A coma."

Rob and Jack stared at me like I was possessed. Oh, I get it, You don't speak to the _boss _in such a disrespectful manner. Screw that.

"Rob. Jack." They looked at Jeb. Soldiers standing to attention. They were pathetic. "You may go now." They left quietly.

"You better watch your tongue young man."

"Why? Is it going to do a trick?"

Jeb was pissed, I was livid, Max and I were handcuffed. The day was going extremely well, and it wasn't even two in the morning yet.

_A/n: a big thank you to all my reviewers! Perhaps some more? They are my FOOD! You guys make me as happy as a steak dinner! Mmhmm steak…_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight- Just a Little Drug.

_A/N: Thank you again guys! You make me sure that I want to be an author someday! Dedicated to anyone who's updated their fan fiction when they're meant to be studying, or who has stayed up till the crack of dawn to finish reading a story =D WARNING! Includes some swearing!_

" I could make your life a living hell Fang. I could make hell look like a spa retreat."

"Aww Jeb, that's really cute. You actually think I care." His eyes narrowed. I have to say, I was enjoying myself. Who knew lack of sleep and kidnapping could produce such sarcasm? Who'd have thought it? Certainly not me. I never get kidnapped in the middle of the night.

His next words stopped me cold.

" I could hurt Max." That son of a bitch.

" If I had boots I'd be shaking in them." Max shot from beside me. "Seen as I was woken rather rudely and given no time to put said boots, otherwise known as sneakers, on, you'll just have to make do with my socks." Jeb ignored her. Not a smart move.

" You will be sent back to 'your' room and will be collected later today. You're to be tested on. A new hallucinate. You'll both take the drug. The results will be very-" A smile split his face. "Interesting."

"Well gag me with a spoon." Max laughed at my comment. Jeb just looked at me.

"Can the sarcasm."

"I never use canned sarcasm."

"Always fresh." Max added, nodding along with me.

"Jack. Rob." The two henchmen reappeared. "Take them back to they're room. Collect them at the assigned time this morning."

A chorus of 'yes boss' and we were off again, back to the large white apartment that had become our sanctuary. Our cuffs were unlocked and we were shoved back in to the kitchen we had eaten in not six hours ago.

Max turned to me. "What do we do now?"

"Sleep?" She shook her head. I sighed.

"They're going to collect us anyway. Might as well get as much rest as we can." She trailed behind me as I made my way to the bedroom.

I got in and she clambered in beside me. The sky had lightened a bit since the last time I had seen it. I was counting stars when Max hugged me. I hugged back.

"Fang?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise me something?"

"What?"

"No crazy heroics, okay?"

I said nothing. I don't make promises I don't plan on keeping.

She sighed when I didn't reply.

"Don't go dying for me okay?" I shifted a little to look at her." Why not?"

"I cant think about not having you there. Knowing you got yourself killed for me would send me over the edge."

"I think you went over the edge and fell a long ways a long time ago."

She laughed a long with me.

" Yeah," she said softly, so soft I almost didn't hear. "And I keep falling."

_(A/n: FAX REFERENCE! Look out people! Coming soon to a computer screen near you!)_

I watched the sky lighten and listened to Max's breathing. A breeze blew in the open window. The curtains flung outwards and I breathed it in. It tasted smoky and cool. It felt good on my face. Max's hair stirred lightly in the breeze.

Would I die for her? Yes. In the heat of the moment would I take the bullet with total disregard for my own life? Yes. Was there anything on earth that was more beautiful than her? No.

I took a deep breath of the fragrant smoky air and pondered my stirred feelings. If we ever got out of this I would tell her I loved her. No, _when _we got out of this. Should I just tell her now? Get it out of my system? Give her my heart and hope she didn't destroy it? All I knew as I fell asleep was that I loved her and that I would tell her. Soon.

But my definition of soon and anyone else's definition of soon could be two COMPLETELY different things.

I woke up without the feeling of handcuffs around my wrists. The day was looking up. I got breakfast. I ate it. Time went by. Max woke up, got herself breakfast, ate it. Time was spent in tense waiting. We were going to be experimented on today. We were waiting for the inevitable. Max took a shower, just for something to do. Hours went by. Max's hair dried. I changed into my black t-shirt. I felt better after slipping it over my head.

At around noon the door clicked open. We stood up from the kitchen table. No struggling. Just get it over with. Jack and Rob were in awe of our silent selves as they handcuffed us and led us to a different stairs. We went down this time instead of up. A few more hallways, a few more left's and right's and we ended up in another room.

Two stainless steel tabletops were in the middle of the room. Straps were feet and hands would go. A table was off to the side with two needles, two containers filled with a faintly yellow liquid. Two whitecoats were muttering to themselves, holding clipboards beside it. Jeb was standing off to one side of them a little, smiling at us as we walked in. I caught a little of what the two were saying…

"…very concentrated mixture of Valium and Trimyristin…_(A/N: only hallucinates I know…Trimyristin is a mild one found in Nutmeg.) _

"…interesting results…"

"….no known side affects.."

I tuned them out. I was going to be seeing things. I didn't need to know how or why.

We lay down on the tables. Might as well get this over with. The henchmen strapped our ankles in, and our arms by our sides.

The whitecoats filled the needles with the chemical and one came over to me. He was a lanky, scrawny thing with glasses perched on the end of his nose that gave him the appearance of an owl. I could have broken him in half.

My breathing grew shallower and faster as the needle came closer. We were all bad with needles, no thanks to this place.

There was a prick as the needle broke the skin. I could feel the stuff flow through my arm. I instantly relaxed. I shouldn't have been this relaxed, but what was there to worry about? It was only a little test. My head felt fuzzy, my eyes felt heavy. All I wanted to do was sleep…some part of me screamed not to close my eyes. Another part whispered at my mind…

_Sleep…go to sleep Fang. It will all be better in the morning. _I faintly heard myself chuckle. It already_ was _morning.

_Sleep… _

My eyes closed, cutting out the harsh fluorescent lights of the lab. The cold table seeped through my t-shirt but I was…comfortable.

Whether I wanted to or not, I slipped into semi consciousness. Not asleep, not awake. A waking sleep, a grey area.

And there, I began to dream.

_A/N: shorter than I would like but I was in the mood for a cliffy….aren't I positively EVIL!_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine - Dreaming

_A/N: Just one more exam on Thursday and then I will be FREE! Ps. If you've got nothing to do go check out my profile!_

I was walking through mist. Drops of moisture clung to my bare arms and twinkled dully in the filtered light. The world around me was grey and noiseless, in permanent twilight. A sifting, rolling mass of fog and cold and wet. I hugged my arms towards my chest, shivered and kept moving.

From the smoke, rose a city. Houses shadowed my face as I walked down nameless streets. Windows were smashed and their glass lay in a wide shimmering array at my feet. The buildings clustered closer as I walked deeper into their city, silent and empty about me. Hollow monoliths, mute witnesses to the ruin they had survived. Wisps of mist caught on their skeletons like filmy scarves, then floated past. They did not want me here.

The whole city seemed full of nothing but thrumming shadows, flitting in and out of the corner of my eye. I would turn and they would be gone. Vanishing in the mist to reappear again.

There. A large fluid shadow behind me. It whipped past me, sending whispers in its wake. More followed it untill the voices were all around me. Were they just echoes in my head, the sound of the wind being twisted in my frightened mind? But there was no wind. I ducked down an alley to escape the dark murmurings in my ear. They fell away leaving me in silence as the streets began to die. I reached the edge of the city. Waiting for me, was Max. Her wings were out and she was in all white. She was giving off rays of white light and the mist avoided her as if she was some kind of sun that could burn this hell-fog away.

Max's appearance seemed to break a tiny delicate link in the phantom landscape. I felt it break away and fade into the mist that hid everything.

She saw me and smiled, turning and walking towards a large forest that appeared out of the mist like everything else. I ran towards her, calling out for her to stop, to slow down, to just wait for me. She never turned around. I kept running but it made no difference. She never came any closer, never any further away. I slowed to a walk and followed her light through the trees.

Time seemed to start again in the forest. The clouds cleared to show that the sky was burning down beyond the horizon now, flooding the sky with blood and roses. It was a mixture of red and black, looking like rubies dipped in smoke.

The dark is getting deeper beneath the trees, the mist swirling around my feet thicker. My breathing is getting faster, my mind cloudier, my head heavier.

I didn't notice Max had stopped. The clearing was surrounded by trees whose branches twisted and tangled together. I stood still and watched the mist steam off the woods around her light, watched the trees keep their secrets.

"Fang. Listen." Max. Her voice was sweet as honey, lilting, calling ghosts up to walk these aging woods.

I listened. I could hear howling on the wind, their paws on the Autumn earth like drums.

Wolves.

They flowed through the clearing, eyes catching the light, supple forms bending through the trees. They brought with them noise. Yapping, howling, barking, grunts, growling, singing. So loud it made the air solid as a fist. They brought the night with them. Fingers of darkness stretched from their raggedy forms, reaching through the smoke which hung from the trees. Darkness covered the world in a soft, black blanket. The only light left was the light from Max and the pack's eyes. They circled, all teeth and tongue and noise. Max's light began to fade. The wolves grew still, watching her. She smiled at me. I felt the cold slip back into my veins and turn them to liquid ice. I watched dumbfounded, the sound of my own gasping breath harsh in my ears. The only noise left. A wolf stepped closer to me. He was black and silver. The most beautiful animal I'd ever seen. He swung his head around to look at me. Golden eyes fixed on mine for one moment and then he looked back towards Max and her dying light. A shiver slipped down my back when he did.

The pack were waiting.

Finally the light faded all together and Max was just Max again. She closed her eyes and the pack fell on her, covering her from view. The noise exploded outwards. My screams joined it.

I started to tear my way through the mass of writhing wolf bodies but I didn't have to. The parted for me, slipping back into the shadows to become just staring golden eyes. I felt their weight on me as I made my way towards Max. The black wolf stood beside her, looking down on her sadly.

As I watched the air around him shimmered, his face blurring untill I was looking into the face of myself. The other me knelt beside Max. I slowly advanced.

I could see her blood flowing into the thirsty ground from numerous bite marks. Her flesh was a mess of torn flesh. She was still smiling, eyes closed. Her chest rose up and down. The mist licked at her body. A small red spot of warm going cold.

I could smell her blood, a warm bright scent in the dead cold world. My breath puffed smoke. I walked as if a ghost towards myself. He looked at me. Our eyes met and suddenly I felt light headed, the world spun and I was kneeling looking down at Max. I looked around for the wolf me but he was gone. I had become him.

Blood colored her lips. I bent without warning over her body. Wolf me was still here. He was controlling our shared body. I could do nothing.

I felt a small sliding motion in my chest and I was outside again, an onlooker. Wolf me bent and kissed Max softly. I felt her soft lips on mine, felt the cold ground under my feet without kneeling and my stomach tightened. I could taste the copper sweet flavour of her blood on my tongue.

Wolf me looked up from Max's head. Black hair covered black eyes, a small smirk played over his lips. Max's blood dripped from his chin. Is this what I really was? Something filled with dark, dangerous power?

I fell to my knees beside Max. I felt a shiver in the air. The black wolf loped off without a backwards glance.

As I watched her blood flowed back into her body, slowly and her wounds closed over leaving thin lines of scars.

Her lips were red slashes.

She opened her eyes and I stared into the golden eyes of a wolf.

Somewhere, the wolves began to howl.

I awoke with a start, my head musty and stuffed full of dreams, of wolves and Max and blood smeared on lips.

The room was such a bright white after the dark of my dreams it was almost a sound.

What did it mean?

_A/n: Going to do Max's dream in a minute to have two sides to the story. Along with 3rd__ person for Jeb. It'll be a bit short but adds to the drama. There is a plot coming. More than just them getting out and falling in love along the way. Where's the challenge in that?_

_REVEIEW LOVELIES! _


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten - Dreams of You

_A/N: its short I know but its necessary. Tension building and all that._

**Max's POV **

Fang and I were walking through the forest, our fingers laced loosely together. Thoughts floated through my head like stars in the sky. Though the green light was clogging my vision like a flood I felt safe with Fang leading me. I was calm and relaxed. It was peaceful. Fang broke the connection of our joined hands and I heard him run off, laughing. I was alone. Darkness filled the space between the trees. Lost and blind I ran through the forest calling out his name. A shape formed up ahead. I slowed.

"Fang?" I called out. The shape came forward. Liquid and low to the ground. A wolf.

It stopped dead in front of me. It's coat was a mixture of dark and light, black and silver. Fading into the night around us and also standing out.

He looked me right in the eyes. I was caught in his gaze. His eyes were black with rings of golden caramel. As I watched the gold melted into the black untill I was staring into strangely familiar eyes. My vision blurred and I was staring at a _very _familiar face.

Fang.

**3rd**** Person POV **

"Sir?"

Jeb looked up from his laptop to glance at the intern. Fresh out of college and the boy was doing well.

"Yes, Jeremy?"

"I have the results for the two avian's test."

"Ah yes. A quick brief?" The twenty two year old blinked a little, not used to such attention.

"Both dream states showed an appearance of wolves."

"How much?"

"The girl saw the boy-" He consulted his notes. "- 'Fang' change from wolf back to humanoid form."

"Ah, very good. And the boy?"

"Slightly more complicated dream, sir."

"How so?"

" He followed the girl, 'Max' through a city. It appeared to be full of living shadows. The city was all ruins. She was emitting light and she led him to the heart of a forest. A pack of wolves arrived. The girl gradually lost her light and when it went out the wolves…" He gulped. "Seemed to attack her, sir."

"And?"

" One particular wolf caught his eye. It was sitting beside the girl, now injured. It transformed into a copy of the boy. It was like he was an onlooker to his own actions. The copy kissed the girl, transformed again and left. 'Fang' watched the girl heal herself. When she opened her eyes they were those of a wolf."

Jeb smiled.

"Ah, excellent. Thank you Jeremy. You have been most informative."

"What shall we do now, sir?"

"Prepare the equipment needed for the accelerator.. The boy is ready. His genes will soon begin to transform and mutate, as was planned. We will just speed the process up. Tomorrow morning will do. We'll monitor him from there."

"Certainly sir." He left the reports on the desk and shut the door softly behind him. Jeb listened to his retreating footsteps untill they faded out of his human hearing.

"Soon Fang." He lay back in his chair and kicked his feet up onto the desk.

"Very soon."

_A/N: What connection is there between wolves and Fang? Find out soon! Fax is coming! I promise! Reviews please! I'll love you guys forever! _


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven - You're joking, right?

_A/n: hello again guys! My exams finished yesterday! Hurray! I totally winged it. Higher Irish is not my strongest subject (even though I am Irish) anyway…I would have updated sooner but all I wanted to do yesterday was play Kingdom Hearts, and that's exactly what I did- for 9 hours straight. _

I had lain awake nearly all night, thinking. About the dream. About Max. About how we were going to get out of here.

The moon moved across the sky and thoughts whirled in my head. I felt restless, like I could never sleep again.

Sometime around when the sky began to brighten I dropped off to the sound of Max's breathing.

In my dreams wolves ran through burning trees.

I awoke with a start. Knocking. On the door. _Thud, thud, thud. _Someone pounding against the white wood. Max stirred. I got up, crossed the apartment and stared at the door, a few cautious feet back. Didn't they have the key?

"Uh, come in?"

This was the most confused I'd been in a while. The last time was when Nudge went from talking about The Joker in Batman to, somehow, about how good fritters were. My ears felt like they were bleeding by the time, forty five minutes later, she had finished up telling me about their 'pineapple-y goodness'. Is that even a word?

The door opened and a guy in his twenties, sandy blonde hair cut close to his head stepped through, white coat about six inches too long for him. It just barely brushed his ankles.

"Hello there", he looked at his clip board, frowning a little "Fang."

I stared down at him incredulously. I was a head taller than him.

"Eh, hi." He shifted nervously.

"We have a small experiment today for you, 'Fang', the operation should take no longer than twenty minutes, so, if you could just follow me please, there's a good boy." What was this guy on?

If you could just follow me please? There's a _good boy?_ This guy was off his rocker. Completely and utterly insane. He did realise I could break him in two, didn't he?

"I don't think I will." His look turned to flustered.

" Now, come on. Don't be difficult, we-"

"You've got to be joking right?" He bristled.

" Listen young, eh, man. We've got a schedule to keep to and if-"

"I'm terribly sorry if I'm inconveniencing you."

"Well, yes. Now c-"

"But I'm not going with you."

This guy was a epic fail. He was going to flunk is "evil exams' at the end of the year.

"This freak giving you trouble Jeremy?" Another white coat appeared. There's one born every minute. Or so it seems.

His hair was dark brown and was that length that's between short and long. He was sporting a short beard.

" He's refusing to come for his testing, Chris"

"Damn straight."

" Fang?" Max had woken up. Her hair was messy curls and her t-shirt was crumpled. I wanted to kiss her right then and there.

"What the hell is going on?"

Chris cracked a grin.

"Oh I think I know why, didn't want to leave his little girlfriend all alone. So, freak, she good in bed, is that it?"

We're sixteen. Makes you wonder what kind of things he was doing at sixteen.

"She's great. Can sleep for days."

I heard Max chuckle from behind me. Chris' face turned sour, like he'd been sucking on too many toxic waste sweets. Those things were the definition of sour. _(A/N: I swear I could feel my face turning inside out.) _

" I'll call for the erasers Jeremy." I was just thinking I should try push past them and make my way to freedom when the door was shut in my face and the lock turned with that short little click I'd heard so many times.

I turned to face Max.

" Do they want us or something?"

"Apparently just me." I shrugged.

"That guy was a total idiot trying to ask me to come with him, like a good little boy." She cracked up laughing.

"Well we all know you're a very bad little boy, now don't we?" Her eyes sparkled with humour and something else. I guessed at sarcasm because as soon as I turned away and grabbed an apple, a twist in my stomach, she started laughing again. A delicate warm sound, like a wind chime or fire crackling.

I felt juice explode on my tongue with citrus as I waited for the hired, or should that be created?, muscle to arrive. This would be fun.

The door opened with the absence of knocking, all pretence of ponce and politeness gone now.

Ah, good old simple evil.

I moved to face the door, half an uneaten apple in my hand.

And who do I see, but my great friend Bob.

The sadistic bastard.

" Now, come with us. I don't want to have to use violence." A white coat who doesn't like violence…and I thought I'd seen everything. As soon as I see a pink coat my life will be almost complete. Tell Max I love her and it's plain sailing. Right. Suuure.

I walked calmly through the door, biting into the apple as I went. I heard the door being closed and locked behind me.

Without warning, I kicked out at Bob, landing the shot on his stomach. He crumpled over it and my hands came down on his neck, apple flung to the side. His knees hit tiles and another kick, this time to the head, left him curled up in the fetal position, moaning. I picked up my apple, dusted it off and leaned against the wall in front of the white coats, laughing. I munched on the last of my apple happily and threw it in a near by bin.

Erasers grabbed my arms and dragged me down the hall after the shell shocked Jeremy.

I was laughing so hard I was about to get a stitch.

_A/N: This is a bit of a filler chapter but I hope you liked it all the same. I'll update later on today for the experiment that could possibly change Fang's life. Warning: a lot more darker emotions are on their way but so is FAX! HURRAY! Will their be a kiss in the next chapter? It depends on what mood I'm in after reading the REVIEWS! (hint hint, nudge nudge )_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve - A kiss of change **

_A/N: Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I was in Wexford(place in Ireland) over the weekend and my mom decides that yesterday and Monday she had to do EVERYTHING so I was run off my feet._

_GO NOW AND READ AND REVIEW NUDGEISCONFUZZLED'S STORY! (after mine of course)_

Another hallway. Another white room. Another steel table. Machines hung on the walls, practically dripping onto the floor. Wires hung form everything to swirl about the table. In the words of Iggy and Gazzy…it looked like a robot threw up.

The erasers ripped my t-shirt off and threw me on the table, quickly fastening me to it.

Something big was about to happen. But I didn't know what.

Wires were attached to me. My temples, my wrists, my collarbone, my chest, my ankles. Every section of me was covered. I could feel my heart beat race. Adrenalin coursed through my body, making my blood sing. I began pushing against the bonds that tied me to the table. I was panicking. I didn't know why. I had to get out of here. Something was coming. Coming for me.

Jeb sauntered into the room, white coat all ready on. He sat on the edge of the table and smiled down at me.

" Are you scared, Fang?" I was petrified. But I wasn't going to tell him that.

"No." My voice sounded stronger than I felt.

His eyes were on mine, like he was peering right past every lie I could tell him.

"I think you are." He sighed and looked off in the distance, his eyes glazing over. "You're genes are beginning to mutate again Fang. This process will speed it up. It might hurt but it will be worth it. You'll be faster, stronger, better. You'll be one of a kind. A mixture." He looked down at me again.

"Why?" He wouldn't give me an answer or any answer he gave me would be vague and in riddles and generally not worth my spit but there you go I asked it and oh my god, did I just ramble?

SEE WHAT PANIC DOES TO YOU?

"Because Fang. You're unique" The dark shadows from his glasses cut lines across his face.

Just like everyone else right?

He stood up and walked over to the machines. Whitecoats huddled in dark corners whispering amongst themselves. I was in the very middle of the floor, in a pool of yellow light. It stung my eyes and so I closed them, listening to switches being flicked on, buttons being pressed and the low murmur of voices that flowed around me. I followed faint footsteps as they walked over to me. Jeb.

"Are you ready Fang?" I cracked an eye open."No, but it doesn't matter really. Just do it." His footsteps walked away and I tried not to think about what was about to happen to me. Worry is a wasted emotion. It happens or it doesn't. No point freaking out if it is going to happen, its not going to help… all you can do is prepare yourself.

After all, all good things come to an end… and that goes for the bad stuff too.

More footsteps and I felt the slight sharp prick of a needle on my arm. In a few seconds I felt all my muscles relax and I was falling behind my eyelids without anything to hold onto. I returned with a snap to the sounds of the machines. Their humming had turned to purring and growling. I squinted against the light. Jeb's hand was on another switch. It was deathly quiet in the small room. Phantom white faces in the corners blurred and melted together. Corners where the shadows were as black as smoker's lungs. My focus was on Jeb. A flick of his wrist and the switch turned on. With a jolt I felt something rush through me. Electricity, it gave me the impression that my fingers were spitting sparks. Agony ripped through me and I'm burning. Right here I'm burning. The steel table no longer feels cool against my skin. It feels as if flames are rearing up from somewhere in it to lick at my arms and face and body. Each breath I take is a gasp that leaves my mouth tasting bitter, my tongue dry and cracked.

Almost as soon as it began, it was over. Pain slowly drained from each limb and the fire that had consumed me not moments ago had vanished, vanished back to whatever other hell it came from. The metal under my back turned cold again. I was left wondering if it had ever been hot at all. I was slippery and sticky with sweat, the ties cutting into my wrists, leaving raw angry marks in their wake. Gradually my breathing slowed and all heat was sucked from the room. A shiver ran it's way along my body. I was released and stood before Jeb. I could feel his breath coming out of his mouth, feel the weight of it, like fingers grabbing for my throat. "Soon Fang." He said and I was dragged back to the room. Nothing else, just 'soon'. The door opened and I was thrown in.

I didn't even have a t-shirt on. Between you and me, I was too tired to care.

"Fang? Are you alright?" Max came running from where she had been pacing and trying to wear a hole in the floor.

"Shower" I croaked out and stumbled into the bathroom. I set the shower to the coldest it would go and got in untill my teeth began to chatter. I turned the heat on a little and got out a few minutes later. Feeling a little drained but generally much better I got dressed and headed out to a worried and frantic Max. "What did they do to you?"

"Some kind of gene accelerator"

"Gene accelerator?"

"Yes my dear Max," I half smirked at her tiredly. "It appears my genes are mutating again. I'm a lucky freak."

" Well shut up and go get the cover off the bed, I don't suppose the lucky freak noticed he was shivering."

I held my hands outstretched in front of me. They were shaking. A droplet of water fell from my hair and hit them. It slid down my hands leaving a streak of light behind it. She sighed at my fascination with the droplet and went to get it herself. The drop had fallen off my shaking hands by the time she came back, the comforter wrapped around her. " I do believe that was meant for me." She grinned and shook her head, a few strands of hair shaking loose of the comforter to whip around her face. "I said _you_ should go get it off the bed. I never said I couldn't get it first."

Damn.

I was really beginning to freeze my ass off, shudders rippling up and down my back making me convulse. And she was laughing at me! All snug and warm in her damn white comforter!

I lunged for her, fingers grasping for the corners of the comforter but clutching air as she turned away from my grabbing hands, stumbling a little on the long ends. Another lunge and she was having to work hard to keep her balance. I grinned and launched myself at her.

She shrieked, throwing the comforter behind her, laughing as we both went down on top of it. Her elbow however was now embedded in my stomach. I winced. "Ow" "Ow? You hit my funny bone!"

"You stuck your funny bone into my stomach!" She laughed and I noticed where we were. I was resting on top of her, my arms outstretched to keep me from crushing her. She was looking up from under me, smiling that half smirk that would make the Mona Lisa jealous.

Her body against mine, the nervous warmth of touching- a pale reflection of the fireworks of one mouth against another, but a reflection none the less…and in the almostness of the moment I cared enough to try. Her lips were bare inches away from mine, soft and pale pink and inviting. Smiling up at me.

I lowered myself the last few inches, trying not to think about after the kiss, when she would get up and leave and pretend it never happened. My lips connected with hers. There were no fireworks, no explosions. Nothing like I'd ever expected. It was like you've forgotten what light feels like after the dark and how laughter feels against your skin. Like cool running water flowing across your face, but this time its warm and dry.

Her arms crept around my neck and I slid to the side untill we were lying sideways on the ground, kissing softly, my arms gently wrapped around her waist. I pulled back a little breathing hard, my lips hovering near hers barely brushing at times, giving her a chance to get up and leave my heart bleeding on the floor.

She didn't.

Her fingers slid into my still damp hair and she pulled me closer. Our mouths moved together, synchronized and to me, they fit perfectly together. Everything in me relaxed. I wasn't feeling cold anymore but warm, from somewhere deep in my gut.

Her kisses became a little more desperate, a little more hungry and I responded in kind. I mean, how long had I waited to kiss her? How long had I wanted to feel like this?

I slowed us down a little and let her pull away. She was looking at me and I got lost in the sea of dark brown that was her eyes. Flecks of gold winked at me. I wondered what see saw in my eyes. They were just black, really a deep dark brown. Nothing special. Nothing like her eyes.

I still expected her to get up now, and go and I would be shattered and have to pick up the fragrant of my heart and cut my fingers on the sharp pieces.

"So what now?" She asked, looking still up at me.

"I don't know. I've never gotten this far without you running off." She winced and her cheeks filled with colour. I hoped she felt how much it hurt when she left me all those times. And then I didn't because I couldn't hurt Max. Not for the world. I got up, and reached a hand down for Max. She took it and hopped up to stand beside me. I grabbed the comforter and turned to her. "MY comforter." She shook her head trying to pull it out of my grasp but I wasn't about to let go. "MINE!" She was laughing and I was grinning and I knew that eventually the thing would get split down the middle if I didn't do something.

"Fine" I slung it over both our shoulders. "Ours." She laughed again, the sound bubbling in the quiet room.

"You know," I began, conversationally "If I had known that the price of getting warm was kissing you, I would have done it a long time ago."

I pulled us both into the TV room and onto one of the couches just as her lips hit mine.

_A/N: AWWW! FAX! Reviews please! A thousand apologies fro it being so late, but it was worth it, no?_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen - Final Days **

_A/N: Ah, yes my beautiful readers and reviewers I was again, in Wexford. Not to worry! The day is still young, life is short and I have an avian American's life to terrorize…things don't get much better than this. _

And here I am. Me, _Fang, _lying awake with the most beautiful girl alive in my arms. Things are looking up. I kissed Max. I kissed Max, and she kissed me back! I don't know what happens now, but untill then I'm happy to just lie here, with her. Now I have her I wont let go.

Max's breathing changed pace slightly. I shifted.

"Max? Are you awake?," I called softly.

"I'm pretty sure I'm dreaming." Huh?

"What?"

"Well for one: your arms are around my waist. Secondly: did you kiss me last night?" Didn't she remember?

"Yeah.""And I kissed you back?" I nodded then, realizing she couldn't see me, said: "Yup."

"Well then," she turned into me, smiling and twining her arms around my neck. "I guess I wasn't dreaming then."

I smiled down at her, connecting our lips in a light kiss. Kissing her was still new and still amazing. I doubted I would ever get tired of kissing her, the way her lips tasted, the way her small waist felt in my hands. She's beautiful. Max, you're beautiful.

"What?" She was looking up at me with eyes slightly widened. I hadn't realised I'd said it out loud. I felt my eyes lower from her face. Embarrassed, I muttered a repeat.

"You think I'm beautiful?" I nodded. A look of utter disbelief graced her features.

"Because you are Max." She smiled slightly and buried her head in my shoulder. My arms wrapped protectively around her. I could feel her wings digging into my hands from under her shirt. We stayed like that for awhile untill I heard and felt my stomach rumble hungrily. It sounded like a large dog growling. Pulling me from the bed, her fingers entwined with mine, Max marched me to the kitchen and pressed an apple into my hand, biting into her own. The only thing for breakfast: an apple. And Bacon. Iggy's Bacon. (_A/N: Bacon must __always __be capitalized, DOALM, love that story!) _

Bacon in general.

I had just taken a bite out of my apple, trying to pretend it was Bacon, ( no success there) when the door clicked once and shot open. I stood up, my head down and held my hand out for Max. She took it and we walked out of there together.

I didn't pay any attention to where we were going untill we came to a stop, and I looked up.

Jeb was looking at our linked hands, an incredulous and then calculating look on his face. I stepped forward, effectively blocking Max and forcing his gaze to my face.

"What," I said slowly, pronouncing each syllable, "do you want?"

" A physical examination, Fang." His face held nothing, blank as stone. Eyes like marbles rolling around in his skull.

"And what exactly would this 'physical examination' include?" A half-smirk split his face in two, the first emotion I'd seen since we came in. I didn't like it.

"You'll be fighting erasers Fang."

Max made a sound somewhere between disgust and disbelief. I agreed with her. Erasers? We were gonna kick ass.

"Right." I rubbed my palms together in mock anticipation. "When do we get started?" Jeb walked to the door and held it open. I stayed where I was, Max still holding onto my hand. We slowly turned to face him.

"Follow me." A small smile sat on his face. I waved my hand in the general direction of the door.

" After you, Satan."

He turned in a whirl of white coat and marched down the corridor. I followed with Max at a more leisurely pace.

We were lead down stairs untill we hit ground level. Outside we walked, across a yard to an out building. I took a second to look up at the place that still haunted my dreams at night. Tall brick buildings, arranged in a vague circular shape, with a yard in the middle. Shadows crossed my eyes in the entrance and I ducked my head and kept walking.

We entered a hall, the kind you use for basketball, except there was no hoop, nothing. The place was bare. Worn smooth floorboards and white walls. A high ceiling arced overhead. I was itching to stretch my wings and jump for the air, even if there was no sky.

"We'll leave you to it then." Jeb and the other whitecoats backed away. To the tinted glass area up above us. It was a sort of balcony. I heard the door close and lock and we were alone. I turned to Max, grinning and dropped her hand to leap into the air. My wings snapped out and beat the air, like I hadn't gone the last few days without using them. I held my hand out to Max and she jumped, her own wings stretching and opening untill she was directly in front of me. She clasped my hand and I briefly brushed my lips against hers. She leaned in and we kissed for a second or two until she turned away, laughing and flew circles around the hall. I followed her lead, turning and flipping, feeling better after so many days without flying.

I stopped, threading air. Small doors in the walls opened and four erasers walked in, looking nervous. As they should.

"Hey, Max!" I met her eyes then looked down. She noticed the erasers staring up at us from the middle of the floor. She laughed.

"Two each?" I nodded and with a shout we swooped down. I landed on one, taking him easily to the ground, kicking his head and his ribs. I heard a satisfying crack. Turning, I almost ran into a punch but ducked and caught the offender in the stomach. He doubled over and my fists made dents in his skull. I finished him off with a roundhouse kick to us neck. He shot backwards and skidded to a halt a few feet away. I turned and saw Max's chosen victims sprawled unconscious at her feet. I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears and my system was flushed with the beginnings of adrenaline. The doors opened and six new erasers walked in. I started punching as soon as they came into range. Finishing up the second one with a swift kick, I heard the doors open again. Eight or so more erasers poured into the hall to join the two remaining ones. They look relieved. We were now facing about ten erasers. I set my teeth in a grim line and started fighting. Three or so would gang up at a time and I would take them down and face the next set. My knuckles were bloody and about five new erasers lay at my feet in a pile. I jumped on top just as the doors swung open again. A flood of erasers ran in, sick smiles on their muzzles. But now, I had the advantage of higher ground. New enemies would have to climb over the bodies of their fallen comrades to get me. And they couldn't fly. Jumping up and trying to hover I attacked them with a flurry of kicks, jumping and dodging there failed attempts to hit me, swooping low and landing on the pile again. Dispatching a few more I heard cries from above. I almost looked up when I felt claws rake across my shoulders and cheek. Blood dripped from the wounds and ran into my mouth untill all I could taste was copper. I threw myself to the side in the air and flew upwards towards the centre of the ceiling. I swung around and saw a few flying erasers coming towards me. I sped up and slammed into one, pulling his wings hard together. He fell to the floor with a cry. Another I I kicked in a slightly lower region then his stomach. So I missed. On purpose. He deserved it. He went down and the rest followed soon after. I took a moment to survey the scene below me. Unconscious bodies were pile everywhere, blood was splattered all over the floor. Max was attacking from the air, shallow claw marks running along her arms. More flying erasers entered and I rushed to get to them before they got to Max.

"Max! Move!" She spun out of the way just in time and I dropped from above on two of them, crashing into the floor, their bodies cushioning the impact. I jumped up and grabbed at one who had flew to low, trying to grab me. I yanked him from the air by his wrist and sent him flying into a another stupid eraser who was diving, trying to attack me while I was distracted. I sent them both into a wall. Max and I were now cornered together, the last fifteen or so erasers surrounding us. "On three…" Max began, her knees flexed. I saw realization in the faces of those surrounding us as they prepared to jump at us when we leapt for the air.

"One" she said calmly and we soared straight up. Some idiots tried to grab us but we kicked out at them, mainly catching them in the jaw. They went down and their forms were covered from view by the other angry erasers we still had to fight.

Diving and working as a team. We picked them off one by one untill we were left staring at the hall strewn with bodies. Some where unconscious, some might have been dead. I didn't really care.

Landing softly, panting a little for breath, I took in our injuries. Mine and Max's knuckles were bloody, I think one of my fingers was broken. Max's arm hung weirdly and I guessed she must have dislocated her shoulder in the last few minutes of the fight when an eraser tore at her arm and nearly pulled her from the air. Other than that we had a few cuts and bruises. My knuckles were beginning to swell especially around the finger that appeared broken. Nothing we hadn't had to deal with before. My feet hurt, my shoulders ached and all I could smell was blood and sweat but we were alive and generally okay and that's all that mattered. As the adrenaline faded away I reflected on our present situation.

We had bested Jeb's little 'Physical examination' and we came out on top. We won. I didn't know how long we'd been fighting but all I wanted to do now was curl up and go to sleep. Preferably beside Max. Whitecoats spilled into the hall like a dark poison. Jeb's expression was murderous. Oops. Guess we weren't supposed to win. As we were led back, I tried to do some sort of estimation as to how many erasers we had fought. My tired brain couldn't count them all. Even now, five minutes after the events of the fight were blurring together. I could remember bits of it, noises pictures flashing behind my eyelids but I couldn't even attempt to piece it all together. Just as I gave up I felt max's hand, sticky with blood, slide into my own. I looked down at her and smiled. We arrived at a new room and were shoved inside and then into an extra large dog crate. Max curled up beside me in the cramped cage.

"Woops," I thought as I wrapped my arms around her shivering frame. "We really weren't supposed to win."

_A/n: And there you go! One of many battle scenes, I hope. How'd you think I did? I have actually fought a lot of people, at competitions of course. I do Taekwon-do and trust me when I say that everything really does blend together as soon as the fights over. Oh, and nothing is better than the feeling of adrenaline and being named the winner! It's one of the best feelings ever when the referee raises your arm and you hear the cheering…anyway, review my lovely readers! If any of you do Taekwon-do or have heard of it-well all the more reasons to review, no? _


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen - Too Much **

_A/N: Wow, I don't actually know what to say,… strange. I'd like to thank all my reviewers. I've had a tough few days with my family and you guys can _still_ bring a smile to my face when I see I've got a new review. _WE'VE HIT FIFTY! _That's right I've got fifty reviews. Thanks guys! =) _

My eyes felt gritty. That was the first thing I thought. That my eyes felt gritty, dry, stuck together. I slowly peeled my eyelids back and blinked a few times to clear my fuzzy view. Max was asleep on my chest, curled up in my arms. Her face was dirty and scratched, clothes ragged and torn. My legs were cramped and aching. I stretched them as much as I could in the cage, trying not to jostle her too much. I gave up when me feet hit chicken wire after a couple of inches.

Sighing, I lay back to see a pair of brown eyes staring into my own. Guess Max's awake then.

"Morning." I muttered. Her gaze never wavered and she smiled. The same half smile that made my heart skip a little. I could almost hear it singing 'follow the yellow brick road' and imagined it bursting out of my chest and running along to the land of Oz.

"Hi." She mumbled back. The room was dark except for light from a window high in the wall directly in front of us. Our cage was pushed against the wall and directly in the large square of light. We were the only people here it seemed, the world was so quiet. The light stung my eyes from where I was sitting. It lit up Max's eyes and turned her hair to a golden halo, giving her the appearance of an angel.

"_Angels don't belong here Fang." _A voice whispered from the back of my head. I pushed it down, smothered it, shushed it, told it to shut up.

It sounded like me.

I felt sick suddenly. Light spilled into the room form an open door. Two Whitecoats I'd never seen before stood framed in the doorway. Their shadows fell on my face. As they got closer their silhouettes gradually blocked out the sun and left me feeling cold. They opened the door and tossed in some bread and two apples. We fell on the food like starving dogs. They laughed harshly. Stuffing some food into her mouth, Max started to crawl from the cage.

"No." The mans voice was hard and cruel. "Not you. Just him." I squeezed past Max, clasping her hand for reassurance. Her brown eyes were filled with worry, darker now. I stumbled when getting to me feet. They laughed again. I clenched my teeth, ignoring the pins and needles in the back of my knees, the numbness in my feet and the general incapacity for my legs to hold me upright. Inwardly cursing my legs for their weakness, I hobbled between the two 'scientists'. I passed erasers on the corridors, they're yellow eyes glaring at me in hatred. I smirked. Sore losers.

I'd been here long enough now to recognize where we were going. The room where my genes were supposedly accelerated. As I stepped through the door I began to feel dizzy and light headed. Jeb stood before me.

I rubbed my shoulder absently.

"What do you want Jeb?"

"Your in love with her aren't you?" My shoes all of a sudden became _very _interesting. I stayed silent, burning holes through the floor. Why would he even want to know that? He laughed.

"You are, aren't you?" Another laugh. It was cold. "Fascinating… I suppose you'd do anything for her?" He loomed over me suddenly. I kept my head down. He grabbed my chin roughly, bringing my head up, forcing me to look at him. His eyes hardened and his face became murderous.

"Answer me Fang!"

"Yes." I muttered, still refusing to look directly at him, instead I focused on a point above his collar.

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I love her." My eyes met his, I could feel them blazing in anger. "It's more than you ever did." With a howl, his open hand came up fast and hit me across the cheek. I spun away from the slap, landing in a crumpled heap on the ground, with my cheek burning and my eyes stinging.

"How dare you! I loved her! I gave her the power of angels! I gave my own daughter to science and in exchange she got wings!"

"And she also had no choice. A little girl, told she's a freak, put in a cage and experimented on. A wonderful life for an angel!" I screamed back. Jeb stalked towards me, reached down and grabbed the front of my t-shirt, dragging me up into a standing position. His eyes were on fire.

"And then you come along, be her friend, her shoulder to cry on, her right hand man," Jeb was almost spitting out the words as if they tasted bad. It was getting harder to concentrate on his words, though they snapped at me like rabid dogs. The world was spinning a little. "Seduce her, you and the flock, into thinking she was loved and had a family. I see the way she looks at you! She'd fall apart without you all, the precious flock, the most successful experiments to date. That was not what she was created for! She was supposed to be invincible! And she is; except for her only weakness: you." Was it just me, or were there two of him? Both Jeb's reached behind their backs and pulled out a long silver device with two buttons on it. It looked like a weird remote control.

"But I've already begun to fix that. With your genes mutating again I'll pull you away from her. Because, you see Fang, I think she loves you too. And to alienate you with your new genes is just what I need to convince her she's better off without you, all of you!" He was mad, completely and utterly mad. The both of them were.

"You think Max will leave the flock, leave me, just because of some new freak power?" I directed my words to the two mad scientists in front of me. My legs were wobbling and my stomach lurched and heaved.

"Not a new power fang." He grinned and placed his thumb over a button.

"A new _form." _Jamming his thumb down I felt my legs go from under me and I lay on the ground terrible wracking shivers running up my body.

" Prepare to meet your new body Fang!" His eyes were wide. My vision was blurring and I felt numb and cold to my core when he pressed the next button.

My body twisted, leaving me writhing on the floor. Everything was cold and Jeb's cackle sounded far away and warped, like I was under water. My head was thumping and all my bones were moving, reforming. The air shimmered, contracted and rebounded again. Everything hurt.

"You're trying to fight it ay? Well it wont work!" Jeb stabbed his finger into the button again. I squirmed on the floor, all my muscles convulsing before giving in to the pain. I shut my eyes tight against another sliver of torment running through me. I felt another quiver in the air as I collapsed completely into the floor. Gradually, the pain faded. I opened my eyes. I felt four feet touch the ground. I smelt something sour and turned my head towards the scent. It was Jeb, his face split with glee. Everything was in hyper focus. Every noise three times louder and clearer than a few seconds ago.

"Would you like to see your new self Fang?" I inwardly winced at the volume of his voice. It was booming. He came closer, a mirror held in his hand. The sour, bitter smell increased in strength. He held it up for me to see.

I recoiled, a sound slipping from my throat. It grew to an earsplitting howl. Staring back at me from the mirror, was a black and silver wolf.

I backed away, my eyes never leaving the mirror until my hind legs hit the door. And they were hind legs, I saw. The clicking sound had been my claws on the floor, the pain had been that of the transformation.

Jeb's cackle sliced through my eardrums. A whimpering growl slid from my muzzle. He pressed the button again. This time I didn't fight it. A moment of pain and cold and I was me again. Crumpled and cowering against the door still staring at my own face. What had I become?

Jeb pushed me from the door. I lay were I fell, a few feet away. His back was to me but I could still hear the sick happiness in his voice.

"Soon, you will be able to control the transformations by your emotions. You must control your emotions first. It shouldn't be hard for you." He swept from the room, leaving me alone on the floor in the darkened office for erasers to drag me back to the cage and back to the one person I didn't want to face. What would she think of what I was now, a wolf, no better than erasers. Had I become a monster?

_A/N: Aw poor Fang…and it's only going to get worse. * smiles evilly* REVIEW IF YOU LOVE FANG! _

_A big thank you and hugs to my best buddies out there. You guys know who you are…you keep me going. I loves ya's all!_


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen - Lost **

_A/N: Oh my freakin god people! We went from 51 reviews to __**66 **__in just one chapter! I may have to be evil a bit more often…_

_Ps. Some of you have been wondering why Jeb was a little ooc, well its cause he's crazy obviously. I never trusted/liked Jeb after he betrayed the flock in the books so I'm making him the crazy bad guy. So sue me. _

I was thrown into the little room where our cage was. The door locked, but they never put me in the crate. Picking the keys of the wall with shaking fingers, I brought them to the lock. Scratching filled my ears. My hands were shaking a little too badly. Taking a deep breath I finally unlocked the door and let Max out.

"Fang?" She said. "Are you alright?"

"Oh yeah, sure, sure. I'm fine." I turned away from her, and felt her slim arms wrap around me from behind. She turned me to face her. Cool fingers briefly touched my face. I closed my eyes for a second. Then I remembered what had just happened not moments ago with Jeb. I jumped a little and reversed quickly, stumbling into a wall. Her hand still hung in the air. She let it drop limp and silent to her side. She took one small step forward and I cringed away from her.

"What's wrong Fang?" Her voice was sad bordering on angry. Cracks like veins spread throughout her words.

"Max…Jeb…" I was stuttering. How do I tell her that I'm now even more of a freak? Not an eraser, but close. Oh yeah Max, by the way, your crazy scientist father? Yeah, he turned me into some kind of werewolf/ shape shifter thing. I'm sure we can get past the fact that I'm now part wolf and almost an eraser. Oh yeah, I'm sure….

Maybe I didn't have to say anything, I could show her couldn't I? Jeb said I would learn to control it with my emotions. Well, I hope self disgust works.

"I have to show you something Max." Her eyes met mine.

"Okay."

I took a step into the middle of the room and closed my eyes. Every single bit of hate for Jeb and The School and now for myself swirled inside me. I tried to grab them all and mold them into something physical. A memory floated through my brain, of the pain and the shimmer of air, my blurry vision and the warped sounds. I remembered the way all my senses were hyperactive, the scents, the too-loud sounds. The feel of having paws instead of feet and hands.

A shiver rippled through me and outwards. I tried not to fight it. Eventually my bones reformed in a slight moment of pain and I was looking up at Max through wolf eyes. Every detail of her was standing out. My only regret was that my vision was mainly in black and white. There were areas of grey and the sky through the windows was a washed out version of it's self in my wolf form. Max's lips were a paler red when they opened and let out a loud gasp that was harsh on my new hearing. I hung my head in shame and slowly let my real self slide forward. My body shook, my vision blurred again, a few waves of pain later and the world was full of color again. My breath was coming in pants and I slid to the floor Max's shocked expression burned into the back of my skull. I brought my hands up and covered my face, scared of looking at her.

I heard a shuffling and a slight thud. Pale gentle hands took my hands in their's. Max threw her arms around my neck and buried her head in my shoulder. My arms slowly slid around her waist. My face was one of surprise.

"Max," I whispered quietly "Why aren't you afraid of me? Or disgusted?"

"I don't care if you can turn into a wolf. I mean, you can already fly and disappear when you want to. There is no way I can complain about extra weirdness. I have a freakin' voice in my head, can fly, and can reach super speeds." I chuckled slightly. She brought her head up to look at me."Your still Fang." Her face came closer to me, eyes looking straight at me. "And I still l-want to be with you." I smiled and dragged her onto my lap. We sat like that for awhile, her head on my shoulder, one of my arms around her waist the other playing with her fingers, ignoring the slight pain in my recently broken finger. It was almost healed. Her free arm cupped the back of my head, playing with my hair. Her face came up and I smiled down at her, loving how big her eyes looked. I didn't notice that she was straddling my hips untill her mouth crashed down against mine. Her fingers were bunched and tangled in the hair at the nape of my neck. I sat up a little straighter, my hands slipping from her waist to the small of her back. Her skin was soft and smooth in the gap between her jeans and her t-shirt. I stroked it lightly while pressing closer to her. Our lips moved together, perfectly in sync. I couldn't believe she could still stand to kiss me. I mean, a moment ago I had a long pink dog tongue. Oh great, I just freaked myself out.

She pulled away slowly. The sound of our quick shallow breaths filled the silence in the room. I gingerly pressed our foreheads together, careful not to press to hard on a healing deep cut above Max's eyebrow.

The door slid open and we turned with a start. It was that other whitecoat, the freaking perverted one. Chris I think his name was. On my lists of names I hate he comes in third. Second is Jeb and first comes Sam. God I hate that guy-I mean name.

"Enjoying each others company, are we?" He said with a quirked eyebrow, taking in our position, me on the floor and Max on top of me. I felt like a dear caught in the headlights.

"Sorry to disturb but the boss needs you both." Erasers marched in and pulled us from the ground. We were led to somewhere new this time. It's a bad sign in my book if you know your way around places like these.

Max was led away to a room and I was forced up a set of stairs. Struggling, I turned my head to see her walk through the door. Giving up, I turned and ran up them, two at a time. It was worth it to see the erasers try to run at the same pace. Lo and behold, I find Jeb in a glass enclosure. Looking out onto a room below from behind the safety of glass, his back to me, hands clasped together.

He turned when I got a few feet into the room, looking mildly surprised, as if I were a rather unsightly insect that had just somehow managed to crawl into his view.

"Fang, there's something I'd like you to see."

I walked towards the glass and watched as Max, erasers and two Whitecoats entered. Chris was one of them. Max was chained to the wall, manacles around her wrists and ankles.

"What the hell is going on Jeb?"" It's a pain test Fang. Let's see how much see can take." He turned back to the window and the events occurring below. I was horrified. "Your own daughter Jeb?" I shook my head in disgust.

"Cuff him." Was his only reply. Erasers jumped to do his bidding. Other erasers were closing in around Max and I was stuck, handcuffed and chained to the floor, forced to watch. They reached her and claws raked her cheek and arms, a fist connecting with her stomach. They hit her, again and again, under the direction of Whitecoats. I felt my heart scream in silent agony. I couldn't help her and it was killing me. Max looked up and caught my gaze, her eyes filled with terror and pain, mine filled with helplessness. Defeat lay heavy on my shoulders. The erasers paused to grab scalpels, drawing a matrix of bloody red lines along her body. The cuts sank a little deeper. Next, they were digging long furrows through her, blood dripping thick and sweet to the floor. I heard her moan in pain.

"No…" I hissed. I threw myself at the glass, my upper body smashing into it awkwardly. I pounded on it, resulting in low thuds that shook along my arms and into my shoulders. I wasn't making any progress so switched to punching, feeling sticky blood cover my knuckles within minutes. I welcomed the pain. It was a relief. I continued untill I realized that it was making no difference and she couldn't even hear me.

Crashing to the ground I pressed my hands against the glass. I slipped further down, my breath fogging the glass, the cool window sticking to my bloody palms.

"You can stop all of this Fang."

Jeb.

He had walked without my hearing it, to stand behind me.

"How?"

A Whitecoat approached Max with a needle mounted on a syringe. The erasers backed off to form a perimeter, pacing it restlessly. The Whitecoat-Chris- shoved it into her neck, causing her to cry out. He removed it as Max's back arched in agony and I listened, helpless, to her screaming.

"What if I told you that you were really the only one we want? That Max was just leverage?" His words were slippery, soft as a snake's.

"What about Max?" I refused to turn around and look at him. Max's blood was the only color below me.

"She is of no real use to us. Her genes are not compatible with the lupine DNA. You are all two per cent avian, however now Fang, you are four per cent lupine. At the beginning, you were only one per cent lupine. Not enough to make any difference. With the gene accelerator you gained a further three lupine genes and also your genes mutated to give you a further zero point five avian genes. Not enough to cause you any noticeable difference. I expect your sight and hearing, also your flying and wing span will sharpen and increase. Of course you wont notice it." He paused for a second. "Max was never created to be part lupine. If she was it would have a great effect on her mission to save the world. We do not need her. In here she is not fulfilling that mission."

So I could save her. And I guess I knew how.

"Let her go."

"Now Fang," He sounded amused. "Why would I do that?"

"Because if you do," My teeth were gritted. "I'll stay here and co-operate. I wont try to escape. You can do whatever you want to me. Let Max go. You need me because I'm the only…"

"Avian lupine hybrid able to fully transform into a lupine form? Yes. We need you." "Please," My voice was a broken thing. "Let her go." He smiled.

"fine. Maximum will be set free and no harm will come to her." He pressed a button in the wall and a buzzer sounded. The Whitecoats and erasers left Max alone in the room, filing slowly out the door.

"How will I know?" I said, my voice a slur, a croak, a thing not quite real.

"Why Fang," He said grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You have my word."

"You will have ten minutes to say goodbye."

_Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax Fax _

Max and I were thrown back into the cage. Her wounds were already starting to close over. I felt every second ticking away, like grains of sand falling between my fingers. And there's so much to say but not enough time to say it. It wouldn't matter. I know what I've got to tell her.

She crawls into my open arms and I'm looking down at my bruise eyed angel for maybe the last time.

"You are such a pretty mess, do you know that?" She chuckles slightly and looks up. I can already feel my heart splintering, cracks run along it. It would seem the cost of misery is at an all time high.

"Max…." I have her full attention now. Nerves skitter across the words. If she rejects me, even now when she would be gone soon, how would I feel? But my time is running out and it's now or never and I've got to say it, just got to say it…"I love you."

She was speechless but I just have to keep talking or I'll never get it out, I'll never talk again. "I love you Max, and there's not a god damned thing you can do about it."

By god, if those three little words weren't almost the death of me. "Fang, I l-"

Erasers pour into the room, cutting off her words. Max was dragged from her cage.

"What's going on?" She was yelling.

"They're letting you go."

"Letting me go? But what about yo-" She saw my eyes and I knew it was over. And there was that sound I had been looking for, that sound like broken glass. My heart shattering. My name formed on her lips and then she was gone, pulled out of the door, taking my heart with her, and I was alone.

Lost without her in hell with only my thoughts for company.

"Bye Max." I thought, feeling as if the words just whispered could imbed themselves in my nightmares.

And there's a hole inside me that I need to crawl into, away from all this, down deep and black. And I know this is the end, the end of all things, I can never escape from here and I'll die slowly of a broken heart and there's no chance, no life, no hope, nothing.

"I love you."

_A/N: Aww this chapter's really sad…really long too. My longest yet. PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME! Fang WILL NOT die and Max and he will be together again. Review if you want to see them together again sooner!_


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen - Fight**

_**A/N: IMPORTANT! **__Hi guys I got some great feedback from you for the last chapter but now I need your help. I decided that Fang needs some friends. So if you've got any cool names for guys and girls just let me know. They can be wolves or other types of mutants though I will be including at least one wolf oc. So give me their names, ages, appearances, mutant type and any characteristics you come up with. I will pick the best two or three and add them to the two I have already planned out. So review and give me your ideas! Thanks!_

I just lay there. In the cage. Just lay there for the entire day. It felt like someone had taken a spoon and scooped out all my internal organs to leave a huge gaping hollow space in my chest. I didn't sleep that night. I hardly even thought. The stale bread I'd been given lay untouched by my side. My mind was one gig grey blur. Eventually when light was seeping back into the room. I picked the bread up and began to chew on it mechanically. I felt like a robot, untill my throat closed up and I felt wetness creep through my eyes. I blinked furiously and ground my palms into my eyes, rubbing till it hurt. I would not cry. Max would hit me upside the head. Not only that but, I'm Fang! I don't cry! I hardly ever show emotion! What had happened to me over the past few days.

As the room got brighter the fog cleared from my head. I was thinking again. Everything before my slip of emotion was a blur. The light was just getting to the point where my eyes were stinging when the door swung open silently on its hinges. Erasers came in, dragged me from the cage and marched me down the hall. I didn't complain, hardly paid attention to where I was going. The one thing I did notice was that they were oddly quiet, murmuring under their breath to each other. I had just caught something about 'the new type of mutant' when Jeb appeared. I looked around, a little interested as to where we were now that we'd got here. A large room with a low ceiling. No flying then. Damn. Jeb indicated the middle of the floor with his head. With that one quick sharp movement I was pushed and sent sprawling on the ground in the middle of the poorly lit room. I stood up, cracking my knuckles. They made a loud crack in the silent room. I felt the echo's bounce back from the walls. Shadows pooled in the corners. I backed up to the end of the room, putting a wall at my back.

The door cracked open and a flood of erasers poured in the door, spreading out. Some had metal bars in their hands, others were just clenching there clawed and hairy fists. They moved closer.

Nobody tells me anything.

I launched myself at the first one I set my eye on. He was twirling his bar between his fingers, grinning. I dodged his swing to my head, dropping into a crouch and then sprang forward my foot connecting with his chest. He flew into a couple of others and it was like watching dominoes after that. Five out of thirty temporarily taken out of action. Twenty five plus the ones that get up of the ground to go. I'm just great at motivating myself.

I turned, right into a punch. The guy was grinning. He got a lucky shot in. Not anymore though. Using the momentum of the punch I spun and planted a kick to his head. My heel connected with his face and he fell backwards, crumpling to the ground. I felt the sting of claws on my back. The next sensation was my fist connecting with the guys face. He staggered backwards, still technically upright. Another kick to the side of the head and a punch to the gut later, he wasn't. Punches and dodges and kicks later, I reviewed the situation. My lip was swelling and my knuckles were bleeding. I could handle that. Claw marks along my back and arms? No biggy. Limping slightly from a sprained ankle? I'd manage. What was going to be the problem was the still conscious fifteen or so erasers I had left to fight.

Surrounded and backed into a corner, with no room to fly I was technically screwed. But I've never been one for technicalities. I had one more trick up my sleeve.

I rose my hands above my head.

"I give up! I surrender!" My voice echoed back at me. The erasers laughed. They were convinced they'd won. I closed my eyes and tried to focus. Every suppressed injury flared up. Molding the pain into one action wasn't easy but I did it. I felt the shiver ripple up me. The moment of pain between shifting forms I noticed had become discomfort. I was moving up.

In a second I was looking up through wolf eyes. The smell hit me. Sewage and rotten eggs. I inwardly gagged. I let out a growl. The erasers turned their focus back to the corner I was in. They expected a trapped and injured bird kid with no room to fly or escape. What they got was a wolf. All my injuries had somehow lessened. The claw marks were mere scrapes and my sprained ankle was barely a concern. This was great. I howled and the erasers stepped back, uncertain. A strange sweet and sour smell wafted over me. My wolf instincts recognized it as fear. This was awesome! I could recognize emotions through smell. Sweet. But back to kicking ass.

Springing forward I sank claws into the first thing I hit. He screamed and fell, hitting his head. I jumped form his limp body and tore the throat out of another eraser. Copper blood filled my mouth. It tasted awful.

Fifteen mauled and unconscious or dead erasers later, I shifted back to being me. Bodies were scattered across the floor. I spat eraser blood from my mouth and stood up, nearly slipping on some assholes blood. I looked down at his slack face, eyes empty and mouth open in a scream. He would never hurt another experiment again, never kill again, never threaten the flock. And I had killed him. I should have felt some guilt but all I felt was relief.

Jeb stormed through the door, a look of outrage and something like awe on his face.

"You're not supposed to be progressing this quickly!" Astonishment filled his voice.

I just looked at him and wiped my chin of blood.

"Oops."

_A/N: a little short and generally a filler chapter but I wanted Fang to fight in wolf form. I also needed you guys to help me with oc's as Fang needs some friends to make his time in The School a little more bearable. So hurry and review with your ideas!_


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen: New friends? 

_**A/N: Sup people? I know…don't give me that look! It's been *winces* a week? More? My deepest apologies! Camping and birthdays and Wexford and stuff. There was also a man eating, flesh devouring seagull, but I wont get into that. To all the people who donated the use of oc's, my thanks go to you. Have a virtual cookie! Now to announce the winners of my little almost competition: Crux- Freedom requires a battle cry/ Jae- Dancing Surfer Soccer Player/ Alex- Jessica Jay Jackson/ and finally Midnight- Fugundus. **_

_**Thank you guys for your great characters! I hope you like what I do with them! Also introducing my two oc's who you shall meet very soon! Enough talk! Go read! **_

_**I just looked at him and wiped the blood from my chin.**_

"_**Oops." **_

**I winced slightly as my words came back to me. Perhaps not the smartest thing to say to the director of the School. My trainers skidded and slipped on the bloody floor as I was dragged between two erasers and out of the now red splattered white room. Down gradually darkening corridors we walked. Our shadows flared on a door at the end of a long corridor. A sign with large black writing read: 'Intelligent/ Successful'.**

**The door creaked open and shone light on grim and dirty faces. Rows of cages were pushed against the walls, a half-hearted aisle formed in the middle. The door swung shut behind me. Shoved down the aisle, I saw bodies shrinking back and eyes shining in the gloom, before swiftly looking away. I averted my gaze. My eyes came to rest on an empty cage, one I knew was mine. Shoved roughly through the door I collapsed on my side and watched as again the door opened and closed, blinding me for a half a second until I was smothering in the dark and the quiet hiss of other experiment's breath. **

**I shut my eyes tiredly. A few minutes of silence later whispers began. I was instantly alert. **

"**Is he unconscious?" A quiet slightly high pitched voice came from opposite me. Its owner sounded curious and very young. **

" **I don't know…" This voice came from beside me. It was a girl, and by the sound of it, she was about my age. I resisted the urge to open my eyes.**

"**Jae don't!" A low voice snapped from somewhere across the room. **

"**JAE!" **

**A quiet rattling began to my right. I snapped my eyes open. The girl in front of me withdrew her hand but didn't move otherwise. Her eyes were on mine, all iris, a slit for the pupil. Cat eyes. I found the strength to crack a slightly bitter smile. **

"**Never seen an avian hybrid before kid?" **

**She blinked once. **

"**I'm sixteen. I'm not a kid." **

"**What a coincidence," I began. "Neither am I." My tone was cold. **

"**Jae Dylan. Avian/ jaguar hybrid. Welcome to our humble abode!" She gestured around her and cracked a grin. Pointed fangs flashed. **

"**And what a lovely place it is!" I rolled my eyes at her and took the rest of her in. Dark violet cat eyes, pointed ears and a lightly flicking black tail. Part cat/ part bird. She, unfortunately, wasn't deterred.**

" **May I introduce Crux?" Before I could tell her I didn't care she pointed to a glowering dark haired boy in the corner across the way, nearest to the door. **

"**Alex, our second youngest at seven." A lanky skinny girl smiled uncertainly at me, her head tilted slightly. Reddish brown hair fell past her ears. She brought a hand up to push the straggling strands back. Her skin was stretched tight across her knuckles. Deep hollows hid under her eyes. "Midnight." Dark green eyes met mine. With short black hair, I had almost thought she was a guy. She gave a sarcastic wave. **

"**Finally, our youngest at five, Rue." Dark blonde hair framed a pale narrow face. Navy blue eyes stared at me. Her lip curled up and she turned away. **

"**I'd have you meet the final member of our rag tag group, but she's away on business at the moment." My attention came back to Jae. Her face was a little tighter. "And she would be my other neighbor?" I asked gesturing to the empty cage on my left. Jae nodded. Long dark brown hair slid over her shoulders. **

"**Rae."**

**As if on cue, the door blasted open and a struggling girl with the similar dark hair and pale lightly freckled skin as Jae was dragged into the room. She crashed to the floor of her cage, a stream of muttered profanities flowing under her breath. **

"**Rae, I presume?" She glanced sharply up. Her hair was shorter than Jae's and curling slightly around her shoulders. I felt a light shock run through me when she caught my gaze. Wolf eyes. Yellow and watchful. " A new neighbor? How wonderful!" Fake enthusiasm oozed from her voice. **

"**Pleasure to meet you." I quipped. "Rae. Rae Cinaed.' She grinned slightly. I wondered what the joke was. **

"**What's your name, Stranger?" The girl with guyish haircut called over to me. If I remembered right, her name was Midnight. Not that I care. **

"**It's of no concern at the moment."**

"**Of no concern at the moment, long name isn't it?" Midnight glanced at Rae, her eyes filled with humour. **

"**Yes indeed." Rae added. "You must have had some screwed up humour as a child." Midnight snickered. I was beginning to get slightly ticked off.**

" **At your service." I gave a half assed salute.**

"**At ease soldier." Rae chuckled slightly. My attention snapped to her.**

**That's right Fang. Concentrate. Focus. Use the force.**

**She leant back leisurely. A large feat when your stuck in a two by two meter cage. **

"**And what brings you to the School?"**

"**The scenery. And I heard the staff were just superb." Rae blinked. **

"**Well you heard right." The dark haired boy snapped form across the way. I couldn't remember his name. "There just peachy keen!" **

"**So I believe." I shot back, glaring at him slightly. I was not in the mood for this kid. Deep breaths Fang. You only have to deal with sarky nosy experiments after leaving your heart with Max. No biggie. Oh good, I feel so much better now. **

"**Seriously dude. What's your name? Can't keep calling you of-no-concern-at-the-moment, now can we?" I just looked at Jae. **

"**Because, quite frankly, it's a bit of a mouthful." **

**I still looked at her as if she had two heads. She tilted her head to the side, a slight grin on her face. Her black tail twitched and curled around her. I said nothing. Jae sighed. **

"**You gonna ever tell us your name?" I made as if I was thinking.**

"**Get back to me on a day that doesn't end in 'y'. I may be willing to talk then." I turned away, just as the door opened. Two Whitecoats sauntered in, plastic boxes of food and bottles of water balanced precariously in their arms. They dumped them on a table near the door. **

**One of them brought a box of what appeared to be all meat over to the little auburn headed girl. Alex. She turned a little green.**

"**There you go my sweet!" Crowed the Whitecoat. "Better get used to it! They're trying to quench your allergy by feeding you meat! Isn't that great!" Alex pushed the box away from her, looking sick. He lashed out, kicking the cage. It shuddered and rattled on the ground. Alex let out a muffled squeak. I heard Jae hiss.**

"**Like I said sugar! You better get used to it! Or that's not all your getting!"**

**He came over to Jae and dumped her food in her cage. **

"**What you complaining about missy? A little protective over your fellow freak? If she don't eat that, she ain't gonna last more than a few more weeks!" He drawled. "Not that she's much good in this department! Can hardly speak!" I looked over at Alex. An amused smirk filled her face. She saw me watching and mouthed 'idiots!'. I smiled despite myself. A master of deceit at seven? Only at the School.**

**I saw Rae's eyes glittering when she got her food. The other Whitecoat was now dolling out the food, he kicked her cage as well, laughing while he did so. She stayed quiet, but her yellow eyes were filled with hate. **

**Each experiment got their food before me, each one had their cage kicked or thumped. The second Whitecoat was at the door, the first making his way over to me. **

"**Hurry up Jack! It's almost time for my lunch break!"**

"**Yeah I know! I just gotta feed the newbie!" He hurried over, opened the door and threw the stuff in. The bottle of water thanked against my chest and dropped to the floor. Whitecoat Jack quickly shut and locked the cage, slipping the key onto a nail on the wall while turning back towards me. **

"**Oh, I'm sorry newbie! Did I hurt you?" I decided I'd had enough of this guy who kicked experiments cages and taunted them through the bars. As his foot shot out my hands slipped through holes in the chicken wire, grabbing his ankle. He looked at me in confusion.**

"**I don't like getting my cage kicked." He was still speechless, his mouth hanging open. I felt a cold smile break out on my features. I would enjoy this. **

**And with one deft twist, I broke his ankle. **

**He started howling almost immediately. **

"**Shit! That son of a bitch broke my ankle!" He was hopping now on one foot, his broken ankle hanging limply at an awkward angle. I sat back and smiled sweetly at him. Now to watch the fireworks. **

**His face turned red. I felt fists thud down on the roof of my cage. **

"**You little bastard!" His colleague had his huge beefy arms around the waist of the howling lanky Whitecoat. He was slowly dragging him away. **

"**I'll get you freak! Make no mistake, I'll get you!" The door slammed shut. **

"**And your little dog too!" I muttered, settling back into a more comfortable position. Silence fell in the room. I could sense them all looking at me but I ignored them all, focusing instead on my water bottle.**

**Eventually noise began again. Shuffling and scraping and slight whispers. **

"**Here Alex, take this."**

"**Have some of this Alex." **

"**Here, Love from Midnight and Crux."**

"**Thanks guys." A quiet voice whispered. I looked up to see Alex and that other guy, Crux I think, swapping food. I replayed the asshole Whitecoats words in my head untill…she's allergic to meat. Ah, I see. That's why they're swapping food. His words floated around my head…**_**not expected to last more than a few more weeks. **_**I remembered the skin pulled tight across her hands and the hollows in her cheeks and under her eyes. They were keeping her alive. Like a family. Like the flock. I pulled half my bread apart and tapped on Rae's cage. She whirled to face me. **

"**Here." I pushed the bread through the wire into her waiting hands. She gave me a grateful smile and handed it to Rue. Rue looked at me for the second time that day. Her dark blue eyes held a little less hostility. She nodded her thanks and passed it on. **

**Alex clutched it to her chest and looked up into my waiting gaze. **

"**Thanks Stranger." She called across to me softly. I gave a ghost of a smile and turned to a tapping Jae. She handed me an apple, her violet cat eyes unreadable. I turned to Rae and the whole thing started again until everyone had donated some non-meat food. I was just about to eat when two strips of meat waved in front of my face. Rae was holding them out to me. I took them and she smiled. Passing one to Jae, I was finally able to shovel the food into my mouth. **

**I sat in silence for the rest of the evening, listening to their quiet conversations. **

**When the lights went out without warning, I curled on my side and listened to soft voices calling goodnight to each other. **

"**Night everybody!" There was silence for a few minutes.**

"**Night Stranger." I looked up and saw it had been Alex. She smiled sheepishly. Rue lay on her stomach in the cage next to her watching me intently. At least most of the hostility was gone. I felt the other's gaze on me. They were waiting. **

**I smiled softly. **

"**Night Alex." Her smile grew. "Night everyone." **

**A chorus of 'night.' met me in the dark and I lay down again, feeling better than I had this morning and slowly drifted off to sleep.**

_**A/N: Review please! You know how much I love them! So go ahead and push Seth, the review button. He loves it! He says it tickles…**_


	18. Chapter 18

**Guys, I cant tell you how sorry I am **

Sorry guys, I hate these a/no's and you think it's a chapter and then you find one of these…I hate myself right now because I swore I'd never do it.

But I have a dilemma.

I'm going away on holiday's to Wexford, and I'll be gone for *prepares for thrown objects* a month. *gulp*.

I would have told you with a chapter but I had noo time so..

BYE!


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Eighteen: Fight night **

_A/N: And I'm back! HUZAH! You all must hate me now but I'll try and make it up to you with a long chapter. But again I have some bad news, and no I'm not going away again and no, you may not shoot me. I'll only be able to update at the weekends because homework's kinda crazy this year because the teachers try to do all of the course this year and use next year to revise for the exams. So, yeah…disregard last note: shoot me._

I woke up with a start, in darkness, in a cage and for a few seconds with no idea what was going on. A cough came from the cage beside me and it all came flooding back.

I slowly uncurled my cramped muscles and turned my gaze to the side. All I saw was an outline for a bit untill my eyes adjusted.

Rae was kneeling with her arms wrapped around her, one hand held to her mouth. I saw her back shudder and muffled coughs rang through my ears. Shadows swam behind her and in that split second it seemed she was suspended, floating in a dark universe all her own.

"You okay?" She started and turned to me, giving a wan smile.

"Did I wake you?"

"Nah," I felt a phantom smile tug at my lips. "I'm always awake at four in the morning." A strangled chuckle bubbled to life and erupted from her mouth. It transformed almost instantly to a near-choking cough.

"Just before you came," She began, "they injected me with a virus, about two weeks ago." Her grim smile held a touch of fang.

"Wanted to see how I held up. I was sick for days. Still fighting it off as you can hear. Couldn't move, could hardly breathe, barely ate." Her voice had dropped to a whisper and her eyes stared of into space. Rae was seeing something other than the dirty room around her.

"For three days the left me to rot in this cage. Then when I thought the worst was over, just when I thought that I had cheated death, that I was getting better, they dragged me to some room, put me on a treadmill and waited for me to collapse." Venom spilled from her voice. It resounded in the still air, bouncing off the empty walls. I sat silently and winced slightly as another hacking cough echoed back to me.

"When I woke up, the room was filled with nothing but erasers between me and the door."

"What happened?" My voice sounded to loud to my own ears.

"I killed them all." She glanced away then back.

"Good." My voice was harsh. Rae looked up sharply.

"Good," I repeated, softer now. A loud bang made her jump a little and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The door hung open, erasers appearing from the gloom like monsters called up from the darkest nightmare. A slobbering hairy asshole stood grinning, looking down on me.

"Hey there freak," He drawled, voice grating on my eardrums.

"Are you ready for the fight of your life?"

And I so wanted to catch up on my knitting.

*********************** José, the line! (on a shtick!) **************************************

Our cages were dumped on trolleys with a clang and wheeled down unfamiliar corridors. Huge double doors appeared around the next corner, painted a dull green. Everything in this freaking place was painted white, dull green, or a cold blue. What, might I ask is wrong with red? Or black? Or freaking midnight blue? What I wouldn't give for some color…or a waffle. I would sell my soul right now for a waffle. But I digress.

They were shouldered open and the first fresh breeze I'd felt in days swept over my face. A gravel yard was spread out under my feet. The stars still glittered brightly but a faint pinkish hue was rising on the horizon. Cages and crates of different sizes were scattered in untidy clusters. Whimpers, moans and other inhuman noises swirled through the still night air.

A sloppily painted white circle sat in the middle of the yard. Clouds hung low in the still dark sky and it seemed to me as if the world was in shades of black and grey. Even the weeds springing up from the cracks in the concrete seemed subdued. Puddles skirted the edges of my vision, steel grey and oily.

A tall woman stepped into the middle the circle, a wireless mic in her hand. Cheers and cat calls rose up from the crowd of already transformed erasers that, predominantly male, ringed the centre of the yard. She just smiled and waggled her fingers. Her skimpy black dress rose up to reveal even more bare skin, a wolf whistle pierced the air. No pun intended.

She stood barefoot in the middle of the cleared area and rose the mic to her lips.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Her voice boomed over the waiting crowd.

"Are you ready for this early hours entertainment?" The crowd grew still and quiet. She directed beaming smile towards them and swept her hair over one bare shoulder.

"Are you ready…", her smile grew to a sharp, toothy grin, eyes yellowing and my blood ran cold.

"…for the fight of your life!"

The crowd screamed and roared, howled and stamped their feet. A single solid wall of sound, hard as a fist, crashed against my hearing.

Claws burst from her hands, blond hair erupted from her body and within three seconds the woman had become a snarling, drooling half-wolf. And I thought my life was bad.

Huge pens were dragged from around a corner. There was four of them in total. Cages were hauled in front of them and experiments forced in untill there was about forty experiments were in each. Two pens were filled with wide eyed and terrified kids who had no idea what was going on and no time to figure it out. Two were empty.

And it began.

It wasn't always experiment vs. eraser. After the first three matches they picked two small experiments at random and set them on each other. They rolled around in the dirt, snarling, untill the small blond boy knocked the other out with a feral yelp. He looked about eight or nine with large green reptile eyes that were too big for his gaunt face and flaky scales clung to his body in patches. I saw money exchanging hands and a hunk of meat was thrown at the boy. He fell on it, whimpering in joy like an abused dog getting praise at last. From the back he looked almost like Gazzy. The thought made me sick. He was ferried away to one of the empty pens. We had all figured out by now that it was the one meant for the winners. The experiments before him lay in heaps in the other one. The small boy he had defeated was tossed in with the others, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Next up.

Rae. Her yellow eyes twinkling, a confident smirk on her face.

This ought to be good.

The eraser who stepped into the ring next was cheered on. He waved to the crowd, grinning all the while. They circled, spiraling inward. He made the first move, a straight fist for the face. She ducked and socked him in the stomach causing him to double over. She kicked him up the ass and sent him sprawling. Mutters of admiration were floating from one intelligent experiment to the next.

He got up spitting gravel, spun and lunged. There was a flurry of punches and a kick that sent her flying away from him, deep claw marks in her shoulder. The erasers cheered. He ran for her again, she turned her body too late though and they both crashed to the ground. Her nose was bloodied by the time she managed to kick him off. I heard a satisfying crack. He grunted and they both leapt to their feet.

I saw it the moment she began to change. Her eyes went hard, feral. Dangerous. And then a shiver, a tremor in the air and a dark brown wolf stood growling low in her throat at the now bewildered eraser.

She leapt. Landed on his chest. His scream was cut off when her muzzle clamped firmly on his throat and his scrabbling hands lay still and quivering by his sides. There was a moment when she held his eyes before taking a step back, shifting and then slamming her foot home into his head.

And that was it. She was taken to the winners pen. And the fighting went on.

Rue didn't even have to fight. She was put in with a tiny girl in a ragged dress with straight red hair. Rue shifted into a small dirty blond wolf and howled. The girl collapsed onto the dirt, cowering behind her webbed hands and whimpered. I noticed the gaping slits on her throat that must have been gills. As soon as Rue got through the door of the pen Rae was scooping her into a hug and pulling her against her chest.

Alex soon followed, a thin blurring shape flitting in and out of view. I've never seen anything move so fast. It shocked me that such an undernourished girl could still bite back.

I saw things I'd never dreamed of.

I saw Crux face an eraser with a long pen knife. Crux waved his hand and the blade flew into it. A slight twitch and rocks sprung up from the ground, hovering untill with another flick of his wrist, they crashed into the wolf mans body. Hands moving only ever so slightly, Crux sent him crashing into the ground time and again. Finally he pressed the blade to the assholes throat and I didn't think he'd do it but he did. With one clean slice he sent the blood pouring from that cut throat to stain the parched ground red. The eraser stared up at him before slumping to the ground, eyes closed and very, very dead.

They're was a collective hush untill Crux was beaten into the winners pen, the knife wrenched out of his grasp, face and hands bloody from scratches and gouges,…but he was still smiling. I felt like smiling with him.

I saw Midnight face a girl with colorless eyes and glass knives for nails, short white hair and fangs. It was like watching yin and yang fight, Midnight a lone figure, everything about her black, facing off against a girl that was the color of snow. I had no doubt though who's team I was on. Midnight made it, only just. She got lucky. The ice queen over stretched a kick and lost her balance and Midnight took advantage of it. Smart girl. She'd be unconscious otherwise.

The one who most impressed me was Jae…her movements were fluid and precise. I'm sure the cat genes helped a lot but… wow. The eraser hardly touched her. You learn enough in the school to stay alive but none of the others and displayed such a level of…professionalism. It made me wonder.

The fight dragged out for ten long minutes, Jae smiling all the way, toying with the guy untill she finally leapt and landed on his shoulders, flipping off and landing light as… well, a cat. The exhausted eraser swung around to face her and BAM! A punch straight to the face. He went flying, sprawled on the ground.

And I, being me and generally stupid in these situations, began to clap.

She grinned over at me, just as the surrounding erasers began to glare.

"He's next." A gravely voice proclaimed, and I was pulled from the pen and into the ring.

My turn then.

An un-changed female came towards the ring. She looked familiar. As she entered the ring my sense of dread was complete. She smiled placidly over at me and I felt my stomach drop…..

"Lissa?"

_OOH! Cliffy! I know guys, I'm sorry! I've been back a while but the schools evil and keeps giving me homework! What's up with that? It sucks, but there you go! I hope you liked it! _

_-Peace out, fly on. x_


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Nineteen - Time to Die

_**A/N: Hey guys! Been a week and a half? Just thought I'd let you know that I'm planning on setting up a blog and also, me and Nudge is confuzzled (or you can call her Aoife, though her real name is Lucifer Malificent Von Rothschild….I'd change my name too.) are going to be doing videos to post on you tube of us just being us which according to everyone else is just utterly hilarious, and also we're going to do Twilight finger puppets! As the Twilight SERIES (not a saga) has gotten on our nerves at this stage. Will let you know when all this happens. Should be soon.**_

**Lissa. Here. This complicates things. **

"**Long time no see, Fang. How's Max? She smiled angelically at me as murmurs passed through the crowd. I tried to ignore them. So now everyone knew my name. Knew I was THAT Fang. **

**See, we're kinda famous around here for escaping. Practically celebrities. **

**God, I hate my life. **

"**Oh, she's not here anymore, is she?" Lissa continued, moving slowly around the edge of the ring. **

"**or is she?" I shiver went through Lissa's body and in the blink of an eye, Max's brown eyes were looking back at me. But there were no wings and when 'Max' opened her mouth it was Lissa's taunting voice that came out. **

"**You thought you were kissing her, didn't you at the school? Didn't know it was me. And only you could see it. So when your little girlfriend came to the window, you never noticed. You didn't see the anger or the pain in her face." She giggled. "I wished I had a camera."**

**My teeth will never be the same from all this gritting, I know it. **

"**But then you felt these." She grinned and touched the sharp needle like teeth she had instead of canines. "And you pulled back and you saw a red-head in your arms, not your precious Max." **

**Of course, at the time I thought I was just having a moment of hallucination. You, know, caused by sleep deprivation. Max and I had hardly slept for the last three nights trying to find Iggy's parents, and school really takes it out of ya. Looking back on it after, with the erasers storming the school only days later it made sense. But I didn't make anything of it- stupid of me. **

**So yeah, Lissa was part erasers, part snake, part shape shifter…and all she-devil.**

"**I lost my chance to kill you then, but I wont now." She jumped up and down on the balls of her feet, smiling all the while, hair like a curtain of fire down her back.**

**I hoped it burnt. **

"**First I'll kill you." She began conversationally. "Then I'll send your corpse to your little girlfriend, watch it break her heart. I'll wait a little while and then attack. I'll kill everyone else in that pathetic little family first. I'll leave the blind one last so he can hear they're screams. Finally when everyone she loves is dead-" She paused to smile wistfully. "I'll bring her back here and let her live out her miserable existence being experimented on, in pain and alone." She was grinning now and I felt something in my heart twist. "But first things first." She clapped her hands together. "Time to die Fang." **

**For the first time I looked up and into her eyes, loving how what I said next widened them with surprise and anger and left me smirking uncontrollably: **

"**Go ahead, Lissa. Make my day." **

**She leaped forward, quick as lightning; but I was expecting it. I turned my body, watching her now clawed hand pass by me, opening her up and overbalancing her. **

**I grabbed the hand, smashing into her teeth with my elbow, then into her neck before finally bringing my knee up into her ribs to hear a satisfying crack. She swiped her other hand out and slashed my ribs, mewling with pain when I punched her cracked rib. She broke out of my grip, spinning away from me and swinging her foot round with the moment that barely missed my face as I stepped back. Blood was running from her mouth and she spat out a tooth into the gravel. **

"**You'll pay for that." **

"**Bring it on." I dodged her next couple of punches and kicks, but one hit me straight in the jaw, and then a kick to the hip sent me reeling backwards. She flew at me, kicking my legs out from under me. I dropped and rolled just as she threw herself on top of me, scratching and clawing as I tried to through her off. Just as I felt her fangs begin to sink into my throat, I got a foot under her chest and through her over my head. I rolled with her, ending up straddling her as I attempted to punch her head off. I felt claws sink through my skin, scratching bone. I leapt up with a yelp, blood now running in a steady drip. We circled each other again, yells from the crowd egging us on. **

**I'd had enough. I took a step back and shifted. **

**Gasps went up into the air like ghosts, louder now. The world was greyer but the sky was still recognizable as blue and Lissa's hair was still a more subdued fiery orange. **

"**Oh good," She quipped. "I could use a new throw rug." I didn't rise to the bait. All I wanted was to rip that pale throat out and watch the light in those pretty grey eyes go out forever. **

"**Hey, Fang. If you die like this will you still stay a wolf? Cause I could really use that lovely pelt. Couldn't give that to Max though, I'll send her your organs. How's that sound?" I snarled and the sound echoed back to me. **

"**I thought so." **

**I lunged and felt her claws sink into my hind legs as she ducked past me. I turned, snarling and growling. She was maybe a meter from my ribs. She jumped, trying to get onto my back. I twisted and caught her leg, feeling teeth sink into flesh and tasting the explosion of blood. It was a weird metallic green color and didn't taste much better.**

**She screamed, dangling from my mouth and I slammed her into the ground, dropping her leg and looming over her. She grunted and snarled, clawing at my chest. I didn't bat an eyelid. She winced as I shifted back to human, kneeling on her clawed hands and effectively pinning her to the ground. **

"**Time to die Lissa." And then I snapped her neck.**

**The crowd went wild, screaming for the experiment who had just one the fight. I stayed where I was and watched the life seep from her eyes untill they were dull and almost black. I felt nothing but a grim satisfaction. **

**The crowd parted and I limped my way to the winners cage, escorted by two almost frightened looking erasers. **

**If I hadn't have been bleeding I would of laughed. **

**As it was, I got into the cage, turned to the guy closing the door and whispered to him "Boo," noting the way he jumped slightly. **

**I turned back to see a wide-eyed Midnight and an excited looking Rae. Crux stood beside them laughing his ass off at the erasers reaction. **

"**Your Fang?" Midnight said slowly. **

"**Yes." I replied coolly. Rae did a small jump. **

"**but this is great!" She said. "The flock will come back for you wont they?" **

**I thought about Max's determination when Angel was captured. **

"**Yes." **

"**Will you help us get out of here?" Jae questioned. I looked at Rue and Alex's small hopeful faces. They were pressed to Jae's side, they're young faces so open and trusting. "Will you help us get out of this hell hole, Fang?" I noticed how she used my name awkwardly. I guess they weren't used to this. I know I wouldn't be. **

**I nodded. **

"**I promise." I looked at each of them in turn. "I promise I'll get you out of here." **

**The door to the cage creaked open and a small experiment walked in, a little bloodied, brushed past me, pressing something square into my hand. **

**I turned after him, but he was already gone.**

**I looked down at my hand in confusion. A tiny white envelope lay in the palm of my hand. "What is it?" Crux was frowning at the envelope, the same puzzlement evident on his face. **

**I turned it over and small, scrawling handwriting read 'soon.' I smiled I knew that handwriting. I carefully slid my thumb under the flap and opened it. I dipped my hand in and pulled a feather out. A long, pale tan with brown splotches feather. I felt my face break out in a grin, then I tensed when I heard the machine guns. Everything went quiet and some erasers ran off towards the sound. My grin was resurrected when I heard the solid 'boom!' of a bomb. I was practically vibrating with excitement. **

"**What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On!" Midnight barked. **

"**Getting out has just come early." I watched as realization dawned on each of their faces. **

"**You guys ready for a fight?" There was a series of 'hell yeahs' that met my question. I watched Rae punch the air as the bombs came closer. **

**I emptied the remainder of the envelope into my palm. There was only a small piece of paper, folded over once. I opened it and read the familiar handwriting again. Max's handwriting. **

'**And how's your day been?" **

**It was about to get a hell of a lot better. **

_**Ta Da! Please review! Seth (the review button) feels lonely! And yes, Fang's time at the school is coming to a close. Finally, says you. Much love guys! x**_


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty - A little family reunion **

_A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the non-last-weekend update, but better late than never right? You'll forgive me when you read the Fax…I hope. _

"Spread the word…we're bustin' out of here."

"Ooh, a revolt!" Crux rubbed his hands together gleefully. "My kinda thing." My motley band of followers spread out, whispering to the other kids. Soon the very air around me was thrumming with excitement and the whispers. Freedom. You could almost taste it.

I walked through the experiments. They parted like the red sea, their faces hopeful and expectant.

"Freedom. Five minutes" I said and just kept on moving. Kids were leaning between the bars and over to the other cage, telling the others to get ready, the end was coming. It was do or die.

The bombs kept coming closer and it was getting hard to hide that I was vibrating with happiness. I was practically bouncing on my toes. Light was just beginning to spill over the horizon, seeping blood red and yellow across the sky. I got back to the door in time to hear Midnight whispering to another experiment: "Follow him" She pointed at me. "He speaks in sentences." She grinned and came to join me. Within a further two minutes the others had returned from recruiting. I wondered if this was the way Max felt like all the time, like everything depended on you. But the buzz…

"Ready?" They nodded. Rae took a match from her pocket and held it like it was the most precious thing in the world. "Lets kick some ass." She was grinning.

"uh Rae," She looked up at me, an eyebrow quirked. "How exactly are you gonna kick ass with a match?" She just smiled as the others laughed. I didn't get it. "You'll see." I just nodded and pretended like I knew what the hell she was talking about. Which, for the record, I didn't.

Crux made for the door. I stopped him with an outstretched arm, my eyes skyward.

"What the hell man!"

"Shut up dude." My eyes never left the top of the nearest building. "just wait a minute."

And then, flying out of a cloud of dust, my family.

"Now!" Crux flung open the door, taking out one guard while I punched the other. And a flood of angry, revenge seeking experiments flooded out behind us like an unstoppable river of pent up hate and pain. Crux tossed me a switchblade from the fallen erasers and we were off.

I'd just finished off my fifth eraser when I heard a yelp. I whirled around. It was the little kid with the two big reptile eyes, caught in the clutches of a grinning, drooling eraser. I was cutting through erasers to reach him when a sudden spark and flare of light caught my attention. Out of the corner of my eye stood Rae, the match held in her hand and something like madness in her eyes. I was just thinking she was going to get herself killed when the flame grew. And grew. And grew. Into a pillar of swirling, twisting flame reflected in her yellow eyes. She spun, laughing and the fire followed her. She blew a kiss at the eraser and a raging strand of fire was flung into his face. He dropped the kid and fell to the ground screaming and screaming, the noise filling my head untill there was no room left to think. Soon, the only thing that remained was charred bones and the smell of burnt flesh hanging in the air.

The kid nodded his thanks to Rae and ran off, lost within seconds in the seething mass of fighting bodies. I kept staring at her. She laughed, high and light, and just a little bit crazy.

"My second name isn't Cinaed for no reason." I hadn't got a clue what she was talking about and seeing, this she began to explain.

"Its Gaelic for 'born of fire'" I didn't know what the h-e-double toothpicks Gaelic was but anyway. "Jae's second name Dylan is Welsh for 'born of the waves'"

"Wait," I said, brain ticking over, thoughts whirling, things connecting into sense. "Does that mean?-"

"Yup" She pointed and I spun to see a fistful of water hardened into a ball of ice crash into the temple of an eraser who was in the process of sneaking up on me-

And it's source was Jae.

"Hey there. Shouldn't you be killing things?"

I stabbed backwards into an eraser that had gotten too close when fighting. He gave a grunt and fell to the ground beside me. Without looking, I slit his throat. There was a gurgle and a muttered thanks from the experiment fighting it. I didn't even turn and look.

"Happy?"

"Ecstatic" She shot back and started fighting on the other side of Rae. Fire and water whipped in circles, almost mesmerizing. The way they fought it was as if they were two sides of a coin, as if-

Images flooded my brain-the similar hair, the same skin, the same ages, the way one was a wolf and one was a cat, the opposite eyes, the opposite _elements-_

But they still fought like-

As if-

_As if-_

They were twins.

But then there was a shock of pain in my side and I couldn't think about it because, there smiling, was the same eraser who'd cut up Max the day I said I'd co-operate, the same day I got them to let her go for my co-operation-

Ha. Didn't last long ,did it?

And in my head I can hear her screaming again, screaming _my_ name as the blood runs down her legs-

And I see red.

And he's dead before even I know it.

But for every eraser I sent to the grave, there were ten to take his place. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming, snarling, and drooling, hunger in their eyes. It was no wonder that, within ten minutes, I was surrounded.

Untill a dark blonde wolf with familiar navy eyes tore most of them apart. "Rue" She looked up. I smiled. "Thanks." She snorted and growled irritably. Oh. Yeah. Smooth Fang. Forget that you too can change into a creature with the ability to kill erasers about ten times faster than this switchblade your using. Smooth. So I closed the switchblade, stuck it in my pocket, leapt for the nearest eraser and changed in mid air.

At one stage I saw a blur to my right, which I was sure was Alex, bombs going off left and right from the air which I knew, just knew were the work of Gazzy and Iggy. I cleared a path through the erasers, the scientists, the flyboys that had come flooding through the door of the nearest building not minutes ago untill I saw a very familiar blond, curly haired kid appear directly in front of me, fighting like she'd never fought before-

Angel.

_**Fang? **_The surprised thought brushed through my mind.

Angel I thought at her again and she turned to where I was running towards her, turning to see me-

And then opening her mouth in fear-

And I realised too late that she didn't know-

As I leaped towards her-

Angel, my Angel, my little girl-

Turned and ran.

I changed swiftly back to human shape.

"Angel!" I shouted at her, and saw as she turned from reflex, her eyes wide with the fear of what she would see…

"Fang?" And then she was running to me, collapsing in my arms.

"You scared me Fang" She was pressed against me, thin wiry arms wrapped around my waist, face buried in my t-shirt.

"I missed you." Tears are pouring down her face as she looks up at me.

"Shh, it's ok Angel. I missed you too." I hug her even tighter, only after saying it realizing how true it is. How I missed them all. So much.

"Were you the wolf Fang?"

"Yeah, Angel." I look down at her tear stained face, eyes already drying. I kneel down and look her right in those terrible blue eyes.

"Where are the others Angel? Where's Max?" Angel looks over to her right, worry and confusion in her expression.

"Nudge was right over there." She points. I watch as long brown limbs fight their way through the crowd, breaking a nose here, a wrist there; untill I can see Nudge's wild curly hair, her smiling face as she runs and hugs me as well. I laugh and kiss the top of her head.

"Oh my God Fang, we were so worried, and we all missed you so much, and everyone was really sad, especially Max, and Iggy said she was depressed because you weren't there and I think that's really cute and romantic but really sad but now she doesn't have to be depressed cause you're back and we can all be a family again and maybe in five years you and Max can get married and I can be the bridesmaid and Angel can be the flower girl and wouldn't that just be so so great? And we could go shopping for the dress and imagine if you had kids they would be so so cute and god I'd be an aunty and-

"Nudge!" I clapped a hand to her mouth and removed it slowly. Some things never change.

"Sorry." She grinned sheepishly. She took two breaths during that whole thing. Two breaths. Maximum. Speaking of which…

"Where's Max guys?

"Somewhere over there." Angel pointed into the middle of the surging crowd.

"Nudge, look after Angel." She saluted. "Angel, look after Nudge." Angel grinned. "And tell Iggy and Gazzy to bomb the buildings. There's no experiments in there anymore. They were all taken out for this bloody contest." She nodded, the ever-growing sun illuminating her hair and making her look even more like her namesake.

"Oh, and Nudge? Don't freak, 'kay? I'm off to find Max. "

Turns out that actually, Nudge thought it was the coolest thing on this earth that I could change into a giant wolf, which she told me in a lot more words with a lot less breaths.

That girl.

I bounded off towards where Angel said Max was, barreling through the fighting forms, tearing apart any eraser that stood in my way.

In the middle of a crowd of erasers, fighting them off as if it were the easiest thing in the world, in fact hardly breaking a sweat-

Max.

Wearing a dirty white tank top and ripped jeans, her favorite even though they were practically shredded in a fight before the summer and on her feet are black combats, the same ones I got her for Christmas, the same shoes that cost half my meager life savings. But it was worth it for the look on her face.

I bounded towards her and shifted while her back was turned to me. Walking silently forward as always ,I tapped her shoulder. She spun around, her face murderous, fist flung out aiming for my face. I caught it as usual. What I didn't expect was the second fist that slammed into my mouth. I dropped her hand and raised a finger to my lip. Instantly, blood dripped sweet and metallic through my lips. Max stared incredulously at me, like she'd seen a ghost.

"Shit Max." But I was smiling. "That hurt."

"Fang." Her voice was a shocked whisper. We looked at each other for a moment longer untill with blurring speed she flung her arms around my neck and hugged me.

"God, I almost thought I was never gonna see you again."

"You realise the blood loss is massive? It could be fatal." She stared up at me with an 'are you kidding?' look.

"I'm serious. Death could be iminent." She stepped back and socked me in the stomach.

"What. Was . That?" I spit out through gritted teeth, clutching my aching ribs.

"Something to whine about." I smiled throught the pain. It was fading already. I straightened.

"God, how I've missed you." She grinned back up at me and twined her arms around my neck once again, bunching her fingers in my hair. The movement made me shiver slightly. Without thinking, my arms wound around her waist, hands fitting perfectly on the small of her back. Ignoring the fighting going on around us, I slowly lowered my head to kiss her when she broke away from my hold and punched me full force in the shoulder. "Ow." I rubbed it, frowning slightly at her. I was looking forward to that kiss.

"That's for being a martyr and going all self-sacrificing on me!" She kicked my shin and I jumped back with a small yelp of surprise. She was pissed.

"That's for all the worrying and sleepless nights I've had!" Her face had darkened and I could see small villages being destroyed in her eyes. I take it back, she was **furious**_**… **_

The crowds of erasers around us had dwindled to maybe fifty, easily being picked off by the army of experiments.

While I was distracted by our sudden un-surrounded-by-enemies-status, her foot connected with my stomach in a starburst of pain. I was sent reeling backwards and could feel the almost unnoticeable shock on my face. But Max would notice it.

"That's for all those stupid kisses you gave me that kept replaying over and over in my head!"

This wasn't how I'd imagined this moment at all. The spin I put on it was far more romantic. God, I am so whipped. She stomped forward, eyes blazing.

So this is the end. Killed by the girl I love. Oh, cruel, cruel world; you have some explaining to do.

"And this!-" She threw herself at me as I wondered who to leave my laptop to-

As I wondered if I'd prefer to be buried or cremated-

As her lips crashed ferociously down on mine.

**SURPRISE! **

Oh, wait? You didn't get the memo?

Shut up inner confuscious, kinda busy right now…

Oh yeah right, kissing Max and all…sorry.

And christ if it wasn't the greatest thing on this earth. Our mouths moved perfectly in sync, twisting this way and that to get closer. She tasted of chocolate chip cookies, and smelt like rain and vanilla. Of course I forgot how to breathe and all to soon we broke apart, panting for air and staring at each other like we'd never really seen the other person untill that moment.

I took in her warm brown eyes, soft curly brown hair, full almost red lips, the smooth curve of her waist, the toned muscles all through her body, each tiny freckle scattered across her nose, the perfect pale brown with darker splothches of her wings.

"That," She repeated, breathing hard and reaching up on tiptoe to brush another kiss across my still tingling lips. "was because I love you too Fang."

_Say it with me now…_

_! _

_Please forgive the non updateness, please accept the fax and the lengthy chapter by way of apology and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! _

_Ps. It does nto end here my friends. *smirks* not even close…. DON DON DON! (ominous music playing in the background) _

_Much love guys! x_


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter twenty one - Feels like finally

_a/n: Hey everyone! Thank you for the reviews! Its always great to get reviews (hint hint) So, merci to the many devout minions this story has. Sorry for the wait, I won't give you any excuses but I did have some writers block. But there you go. Enjoy! =D _

I leant down and kissed Max again and the world exploded in fire.

Sadly, no it was not from our kiss.

I mean the world _literally _exploded in fire.

You helpless romantics.

We were thrown backwards and crashed to the ground several feet away. I found myself damning the day Iggy and Gazzy were born. I stood up and offered a hand to her, she straightened slowly brushing debris off her clothes. The ground was scorched in a twenty feet radius around the nearest outbuilding. I heard cackling and a slapping of palms.

"Well that was…" Max began, "unexpected."

"Remind me to kill them later."

She laughed and slid back into a fighting pose still chuckling as an eraser ran blindly in our direction, flailing his arms, screaming his head off. She stuck out her foot with a yawn and he went tumbling and shrieking to the ground.

"You'll pay for that!" He growled, climbing awkwardly from his knees back onto his feet. She was grinning and I stood back, arms folded enjoying the moment.

"Your silly and unoriginal comeback has been noted." He lunged, she side stepped and sent him flying into me. I kicked him away, irritation flitting across my face while Max cracked up laughing.

"I'd prefer if you cleared up your trash, Max." She turned quickly and punched some Whitecoats lights in.

"I'm busy, you love me, have a nice day!" She called over cheerily and I groaned, finishing him off. I took a second to look down at myself. Splatters of blood stained my arms and jeans, rips and tears running through my clothes. Scratches and shallow cuts were covered in a crust of dried blood and I could feel dust in my hair and coating half my face and arms from the explosion. There was dried blood on my chin from the split lip Max gave me and I swiped at it with my sleeve in a last ditch attempt to clean my face up.

"You could star in a horror movie." Max was standing suddenly in front of me, undisguised laughter in her eyes and a smirk on her features. I felt my mouth twist up into the infamous half smile.

"Well we do have the perfect setting."

"Firebombed hellhole," she agreed. "When do we start shooting?"

"Soon as we finish kicking ass."

"Your suspiciously happy today."

"I'm so happy I could shit rainbows." She turned to stare at me.

"Is there something wrong with you?"

"Nope."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"No lightheadedness?"

"No."

"Nausea?"

"No."

"Dizziness?"

"Max, enough!." I laughed. "There is nothing wrong with me!" She eyed me warily.

"Your acting weird."

"Can't imagine why."

"Does this have anything to do with my mentioning my undying love for you?"

"Well now that you mention it…and you never said undying." I brushed some hair behind her ear and cupped her chin. "It's a nice addition." Her eyes fluttered shut as my face edged closer to her. Our breath mingled and I felt hers hitch. I brushed a kiss over her cheek and stepped back, half smile firmly in place, choking down chuckles at her disappointed sigh.

"Damn tease."

"Takes one to know one."

An eraser reared up behind her and I lunged quickly forward, spinning the switchblade from my pocket and stabbing quickly into his neck. He slid to the ground soundlessly. Max quirked an eyebrow.

"My hero! Saved by an emo angel."

I groaned.

"Not the emo thing again!"

I was interrupted by a flapping of wings. That wouldn't have stopped me except the owner of these particular wings tackled me from above to the ground.

"Jesus Iggy!" He grinned and a smaller pair of arms wound themselves around my shoulders.

"Hey Gazzy."

"We missed you Fang."

"Yeah, I know. Missed you guys too."

Giant blue eyes met mine. "Really?"

"Course." I ruffled his fine blond hair. He squeezed tighter and I awkwardly folded my arms around the two blond pyromaniacs crushing me into the torched asphalt.

"Guys, this would be a lot easier if I could get up you know."

"We know." Neither of them moved. I sighed mentally.

"Would you please get off me?"

"We can't"

"He did ask nicely Iggy."

"We already discussed this Gazzy."

"We did?"

"Yeah, remember? He can't leave again if he cant get up."

"Oh yeah," Gazzy turned to face me again, my eyebrows quirked at the serious expression on his face. "We regret to say that we cannot get off you untill you promise to never ever ever leave again."

"I promise to never ever leave again." He nodded happily and Iggy and he tried to disentangle themselves from each other and me.

"Ow, Ig that's my foot!"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"You just are!"

"Ow!"

"What?"

"You elbowed me! And you can _see…"_

"It's not my fault! You shouldn't be anywhere near my elbows!" It continued like that untill, four years later, they managed to pick themselves off the ground, grumbling all the while.

Iggy, muttering something about cannibalistic ducks, offered me a hand. I pulled myself up and looked around. Erasers were beginning to realise they were outnumbered and some were trying to flee, getting picked off as they ran. The ground was littered with bodies. A Whitecoat was dragging himself along the ground, half shuffling on his knees towards the exit. Crux stepped up behind him, knife in hand, and slid the blade into his back, severing the spinal cord and piercing the heart. The Whitecoat dropped to the ground dead without a whisper.

Nudge and Angel ran over, waving their arms above their heads. I hugged them tight then pulled back, checking them over for injuries. I could tell Max was doing the same for Iggy and Gazzy. Nothing but cuts and bruises. Nudge had a deep gash on her arm. I prodded it experimentally. She gritted her teeth but said nothing. Max fished a first aid kit from her bag and I gently washed it with antiseptic water and carefully wrapped a bandage around her upper arm.

The others came over and I made quick introductions. Both groups stood off a little from each other sizing each other up. Finally Max stuck her hand out to Rae and they shook hands awkwardly. The tension drained away from the air.

"Max, what are we gonna do with all these experiments?"

"I dunno Ange." Max crouched and took Angels hand.

"You got any ideas?"

"Em…" Her small face screwed up in concentration. "What about the Lerner school?" Max smiled.

"Sounds great hon." She straightened and faced Rae, Crux, Jae and Midnight. Alex hung loosely onto Jae's hand and Rue flanked Rae.

"You guys wanna come with us?" Their faces filled with confusion.

"You don't have to, but-"

Midnight cut across her. "You don't mind?"

"Well, you helped Fang. He likes you guys, and in my experience he's an excellent judge of character." She shrugged. "Up to you guys."

They huddled and a lot of whispering went on. I tried to ignore it. They turned back to us.

"We'd love to." Smiled Jae.

"Great." I said.

"Oh my god this will be awesome I can so tell we're all gonna be great friends, but what do we call ourselves now? Cause we're the flock but I guess you guys could be the flock too even though some of you don't have wings and-"

"Nudge." Iggy warned as he slapped his hand over her mouth. I have no idea how he does it. Perfect aim. Every time. "My ears are bleeding."

Max was grinning and the others we'=re smiling nervously.

"Welcome to the ride."

Clambering towards the exit over blown up rubble courtesy of the diabolical duo, well. It's not fun.

Now I have to kill them twice.

We're about fifty meters away when a shot rings. There's a yelp of pain and a thud to my right. I peer over the lip of some concrete block and theres an experiment lying dead on the concrete, crimson blood flowing everywhere and a bullet wound in his back.

I look back and there's a Whitecoat sighting down the barrel of a shotgun.

Oh, shit.

Understatement of the century.

"RUN!" My shout tears through the others and automatically we sprint for the gates, fast as we can, feet barely touching the ground.

Max screams at the flock to take to the air and I'm grabbing for Rue moving as fast as we can-

A shot rings out.

Everything freezes in one perfectly fucked up moment.

And Alex falls from Midnight's arms with a scream, pale to the point of bloodless, red spilling from a hole in her chest, spreading and staining across the ground.

The Whitecoats running towards us now and Crux takes Rue from me silent tears running from her navy eyes, as I turn to help Alex.

Midnight's lets out a scream as she hit's the ground on her knees beside Alex.

Because she's not breathing.

She's not breathing.

_A/N: So, how was that then? I'm sure you have an opinion, so hey, why not tell me? _

_I'm on midterm this week so updates should be a-coming. _

_Big thank you to JessiscaJayJackson for kicking me up the butt when I needed it and getting me to the end of this chapter. Much love._


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 22 - Bliss **

_A/N: Hey guys! Nothing really to say except thanks for the reviews and best witches for Halloween! _

"Breathe for her!"

"WHAT!" Midnight shrieked.

"Tilt her head back and blow a breath in. Make sure her chest rises. Give her one more breath, then count to thirty and do the whole thing again. Do it now, damn it!"

Midnight frantically began her course in first aid as I started doing compressions. Alex's protruding ribs jutted into my closed fists as I pushed.

Iggy landed with a clatter beside me with a shirt torn into strips and tap.

"I'll take over." He muttered to Midnight. She nodded with wide eyes, grabbed the pad of cloth and they switched places. Iggy took over and Midnight pressed the cloth against Alex's chest.

"Guys." She said, panicky, looking to the left. "That Whitecoat is still coming after us!"

I looked over and sure enough, he was scrambling up the front of the debris. He'd get to us in about a minute.

"Oh screw." Breathed Iggy and he bent for another breath.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

"C'mon Alex, c'mon!"

"Midnight, check her pulse." She picked up Alex's limp wrist obediently and pressed a finger to the pale skin underneath. There was a couple of seconds of silence.

"It's there." She said weakly, relief evident in her voice.

"How come she's not breathing then?" Just as my query passed my lips there was a feeble cough.

"Alex?" Another cough.

"Oh thank god." Sighed Midnight, helping her to sit up, careful not to jostle the makeshift bandages taped to her chest and shoulder. A scrabbling sound made the hair stand on the back of my neck stand up. I glanced over. The Whitecoat was directly below us, and climbing fast.

"Iggy." He snapped to attention. "Bombs?" The question in my voice was evident. He shook his head.

"All out."

"This is bad." Midnight blurted. I looked over with a raised eyebrow.

"Thanks captain obvious." I bent down to the only slightly conscious Alex.

"Alex?"

"Hmmm?" Came the mumbled reply. "This is gonna hurt." I scooped my arms under her and she let out a pained yelp.

"As soon as his head appears, kick it off." Iggy nodded and stepped over to the edge.

"This is bad."

"You said that already." Muttered Iggy. Midnight let out a small strained laugh.

"I felt the situation required it." She spread out her wings and shook her short bangs from her eyes. I unfurled my own. Side by side, we looked like the avenging angels of death. Or something like that.

"Your gonna be ok Alex." I whispered and then jumped and with one large downward push, we were flying after the others.

I rose higher and spotted Max outside the gates, organizing experiments. I landed heavily behind her, stumbling a little with the extra weight. She turned and hurried over.

"Owens lake. Thirty miles that way." She pointed in a vaguely west direction. "Get going."

"What about all these experiments?"

"Don't worry, Nudge is bringing them to the Lerner school." She beckoned Nudge over. She stood smiling sheepishly and I gave her an awkward one armed hug.

"You got three days Nudge before I come after you."

"I second that baby girl." Max was standing beside a pile of blankets , backpacks and food.

"Where the hell did all those come from?" She gave me a pointed look.

" 1. We salvaged them. 2. Why are you still here?"

I rolled my eyes and pointed a finger at Nudge."Three days." I changed direction untill my finger pointed at Max.

"You. Fifteen minutes." She sighed.

"Fine." She darted forward and planted a small kiss on my lips. I heard Nudge giggle. Max's cheeks were a light pink. She pushed me.

"Go already." I grinned and launched upwards and away, heading towards the small line of hazy blue in the distance. I hoped this wasn't going to be a repeat of Lake Mead where I had to wait days for Max to return while she was off playing savior and getting herself shot. But of course, I'd had Nudge for company then. I felt a lurch in my stomach at that. My little sister off on a solitary mission. I hoped she'd be okay.

As I dropped towards the water a small spiral of smoke caught my attention. I veered over to the small outcrop of trees it had come from. I touched down in the middle of a small camp. Iggy and Rae were talking by the fire while Rae juggled fire balls.

Red flag, letting the pyromaniac and the pyro-kinetic together without adult supervision…well, without Max or me.

Iggy hopped up when he heard my footsteps approach and hurried over.

"How in the name of god did you get here before me?" He smiled tiredly.

"Coz you were too busy with your girlfriend." I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut. There was nothing I could say to that. Instead I let him take Alex and bring her over to the blanket waiting for her by the fire.

I crouched down beside her and Angel bounced over, Gazzy at her heels. She handed me a half eaten tin of ravioli and a fork, her fairytale curls swaying.

"I hope she'll be okay." There was a small frown on her tiny face. I nodded.

"I hope so too Ange." I looked around and spotted Rue looking worried beside Jae and Crux. Midnight was sterilizing bandages for Iggy in a pot of boiling water. "Why don't you go over and talk to Rue? She looks like she could use a distraction." Angel's face brightened and she grabbed Celeste and headed over to Rue. Soon the two were deep in conversation and Angel even let Rue hold Celeste. She hardly ever lets go of that teddy. It would seem the two were going to be good friends.

Gazzy however was still standing beside me, kicking at the ground with the tips of his worn sneakers.

"Gaz, why don't you go over too?" He scowled.

"They'll be talking about girl stuff!"

"Well, then, help Iggy?"

"Ok."

"Good Gazzy, I need the help." Mumbled Iggy. He was bent over Alex, his long, pale fingers skimming over the gaping hole.

"Hey!" Cried Midnight.

"Not that you aren't a fabulous nurse Midnight." I could hear the smile in Iggy's voice as I headed over to Jae and Crux. "But I need my partner in crime."

Jae was absently rolling a ball of water around her hands, anxiously watching Iggy as he wrapped Alex in fresh bandages. Crux was crouching on the balls of his feet, leaning on his hands and then getting up and pacing for a bit, crouching again.

"Crux, why don't you get some firewood?" Muttered Jae. Irritation was written on her drained features. He got up, mumbling 'at least its something to do' and walked off, shoving his hands in his pockets and kicking at bits of stone.

"Thank god.'' She breathed. "I was about to hit him."

"He's worried." I sat beside her, leaning back against the tree.

"and you look like you could use some sleep." She smiled and then blurted "Do you think she'll be alright."

"Yeah." She glanced over at me, then went back to watching, the water spinning frantically from one hand to the other. "Iggy will make sure she's okay. By the way, where'd Rae go?"

"Off to get firewood." Jae smiled wryly. I laughed.

Just then Iggy's head popped up.

"Uh, Jae? Alex is awake." Jae jumped to her feet and sprinted over, enveloping Alex in a hug. I fished in my backpack-Max had brought it for me- for the ever popular ravioli. Something moved. I snapped my hand back. A tired-eyed Total appeared.

"Hey Fang." He mumbled sleepily. "Good to see you."

"Eh…good to see you too Total." he gave my hand an exhausted lick.

"If your looking for the ravioli, Max stole it."

I'll kill her.

"Thanks Total." I rubbed his ears and yanked a tin from Max's bag. Rae wandered into the clearing chatting with Max. I handed her the tin.

"Alex is awake. Heat this up for her." She nodded, dumped her sticks in a loud clatter by the fire and summoned a large flame to heat the ravioli.

I turned to Max.

"You're three minutes late."

"Woops." She shrugged dramatically. "What ya gonna do?" She began walking to the fire when I hauled her back by the arm. She looked up at me expectantly, one eyebrow quirked over large brown eyes.

"You stole my ravioli." Her eyes widened and she took a step back, arms raised in the universal don't-come-any-closer-please-don't-kill-me sign.

"Oh god, Fang." I smirked.

"I'm sorry?"

"Not good enough."

"The plot thickens." Called Total from my bag. "This is better than any TV drama." By then we had everyone's attention.

"Ok." she sighed "clap me in irons." She held her arms out in front of her.

"Nope." I popped the p.

"Then what-"

"This." I grabbed her round the waist and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around my neck as a chorus of 'ooh!' went up around us. I dipped her backwards and just as Iggy began chanting 'Fang and Max, sitting in a tree-' …I dropped her.

"Fang!" She screeched from the ground. I was bent over laughing, everyone joining in.

"If only I had a camera." I choked out.

Her hand reached out and before I knew it, her fingers were closing in a vice grip around me ankle and with one yank I was landing heavily on the ground beside her. She picked herself onto her knees and launched herself at me with a furious shriek, hands outstretched, grabbing for my throat. I batted them away and twisted. Soon we were rolling on the ground. Max pinned me to the ground, grabbed my shoulders and shook.

"I'm. Going. To. Kill. You!"

"No your not." I spat out.

"Yes I am!"

"No your not." And then I began tickling her.

"No. Fang, stop!" She giggled out, squirming.

"No, you stole my ravioli!"

"You dropped me on the ground!"

"I guess we're even then…." I dropped my hands. "but it was pretty funny." Max cracked up at that, collapsing on top of me in fits of laughter. It took us all at least five minutes to calm down and another five for the giggling to stop. Max and I were still lying on the ground when Crux came back into the clearing, his arms full of branches.

"What the hell happened here?"

It just set us off again.

Within a half an hour, the sky grew dark. Over dinner, Crux finally pried the information from Jae without too much giggling. After that, there wasn't anything to do really but sleep.

"I'll take the first watch." Said Max.

"I'll take the second." Iggy called from his blanket by the fire.

"I'll take third." Jae said, huddled beside Alex, Crux and Rue.

"Fourth." Midnights hand shot into the air from beside Rae.

"Okay then." Muttered Max. "Night everyone." There were mumbled replies as Max sat herself down on a log at the edge of camp, facing outward. I silently got up and sat beside her, draping a thick blanket over her and my shoulders.

"Thanks but, shouldn't you be in bed?" I smiled down at her.

"Nope." She sighed and settled against my side.

"Stupid stubborn idiot." She mumbled.

"Yeah." I kissed her brown curls. "But you love me."

"I sometimes wonder why." We were quiet for a few minutes and then Max posed a question.

"Why are you staying up anyway? Not that I'm complaining." Her arms wound around my waist. "You're warm."

I chuckled quietly. "Coz I'm lost without you Max." I planted another kiss on her forehead. "Not letting you out of my sight anytime soon."

Now if this had been any other situation, or any other girl, I would have never uttered those words. Or anything like them. In fact, as you all know, I don't even talk that much. So, okay I wouldn't have said much of anything in this situation with any other girl. Lets say they said it to me okay? For arguments sake. I would have died of embarrassment and/ or mushiness.

And death by love and rainbows is not how I plan to go. I was thinking a peaceful dieing in my sleep kinda thing. Too ambitious I know, for my life.

The other option is dieing in a bad ass fight having taken out hundreds of bad guys first and taking the bastard with me.

Yeah, we can have a tea party in hell.

I flew back to reality when Max's head slid from my shoulder. I caught her gently before she ended up sprawled across my knee. She was fast asleep.

I laid her softly by the fire and tucked the blanket round her slim figure. And she said I should have gone to bed.

Oh, the irony.

_A/N: School tomorrow. *Bleh* Review please. It has now become my mission in life to review every single chapter of every story I read. I think you guys should follow my example =) and start off with this chapter! And when your done, if you are over the age of 13 go look up the assumption song on YouTube! It's pure genius! _

_Much love guys!_


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 23 - And so it begins. **

_A/N: Schools been hell. I'll leave it at that. _

I took Max's watch and then almost didn't notice when it bled into Iggy's time. Twenty minutes were gone from it when I finally shook him awake. He grumbled "stupid, self righteous, noble prick" and left it at that. I fell asleep and woke up not a half an hour later, feeling restless. I glanced over at Iggy who, surprisingly, wasn't alone. He and Rae were, by the sounds of it, arguing quietly over the best way to make a fire-work.

Oh god no. This can not happen. The pyro and the pyrokinetic cannot become friends. The world will burn to the sound of their high fives. But I figured I might as well go for a walk seen as the world didn't appear to need one giant fire extinguisher just yet.

I nodded my head at Rae, she inclined hers back, bright yellow eyes glittering as she turned back to Iggy gesturing wildly with her hands. Iggy looked in my general direction, gave a feeble wave and returned to the importance of magnesium and sulfur.

I followed a path through the trees, aimlessly coming to the lake our camp was five minutes away from. Owens lake I think I remember Max calling it. The half moon hung behind it and the water looked a combination of steel grey and pure, shining silver.

My feet crunched over the smooth pebbles that formed a crescent moon shaped beach around the icy water. Crouching, I tested a flat grey stone in my hand then tossed it across the water. It skimmed across the surface three times before landing with a plop.

"Nice throw." Came a disembodied voice. The sound of stones shifting as I stood and turned.

Jae was not too far off, feet stretched out, the almost permanently present ring of water spinning from one hand to the other. It looked charcoal grey in the shadow of the tree she sat under. She beckoned me over, the steady crunch crunch of the stones filling the air.

I settled beside her, stones shifting but soon there was nothing but the sound of the leaves rustling in the light breeze.

"I never thought I'd be here you know." Jae began randomly.

"Out of the school?"

"No, here with the flock. As friends." Her eyes were fixed to the orbiting water. It spun up one arm, then the other before landing in her hand as ice. I felt my eyes widen slightly.

"That's not all" She said, reading my expression. In the next second it had turned into a shard, the point as sharp as a knife. Raising a hand, it floated into the air and flinging it out it, she hit a branch a few meters away and split it in half.

"That's one particular skill that was a great asset to the school and for what they would make me." She called the shard to her hand again and it melted, forming the hypnotic circles once more.

"From the time I was nine up untill just one year ago, I was an assassin."

"What the-…"

"Hell?" She finished my sentence with a shaky smile. "Yeah I know. I was sent to kill off anyone that got in their way."

"Which included us?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but I couldn't kill you guys. You were like me. So they made me a regular experiment."

"What about Rae? She could just-"

"Burn them to death? Nah, she's too unpredictable for their liking."

"Please stop doing that." She laughed at my infuriated expression.

"What finishing your-"

"Sentences? Yeah please." She chuckled, and lightly punched me in the arm.

"Your alright Fang."

By unspoken agreement we stood up and meandered back to camp in comfortable silence. A few meters from the flickering light of the fire, whispered bickering just about reached my ears.

"Thank God, Jae!" Rae launched herself at her twin. Standing together their similarities and differences stood out in stark contrasts.

"I'm going to rip him apart, burn the pieces and dance on the ashes. He says blondes are better than brunettes!"

"Are you complaining because you have brown hair and he doesn't like it?" A red flush made it's way up Rae's cheeks.

"I do like the color of her hair." Iggy's face said he'd rather have kept the words to himself. Rae's cheeks were now a stained tomato red. "She said all blonds are ditzy and stupid and I'm blond!" He ruffled his hair nervously.

"All girl blonds Ig! And your strawberry blond and really smart." "Uh…thanks Rae."

"Crisis averted children?" I muttered just as Jae began humming under her breath 'Love is in the air'. I barely held in a laugh.

"What," Iggy said in a dangerous voice, "are you humming?"

"Oh nothing, nothing." Jae whistled and skipped over to a blanket beside Crux and lay down grinning.

"Iggy, cool it and go back to your arguments."

He held his hands up. "Chillin'." I crept silently to my space beside Max. A hand clamped around my ankle, cold and strong as steel. My eyes flew down and saw Angel. Only it wasn't Angel.

Her veins stood out in sharp relief, blue against her almost transparent skin. Her hair looked white -blond, trailing down her face and when she opened her eyes they weren't the sky blue I knew and loved. They were black. No iris, no pupil, no white. Just pure black.

I'll admit to jumping just a bit.

"They're coming." I tried to school my features into something that resembled calm.

"Who Angel?" Her hands were like talons and she raised another hand to my arm and dragged me to the ground with surprising force.

"Them," she hissed.

"Who Ange, who's coming?" In a split second I was face to face with her, black eyes so close to my own. Vaguely I heard Iggy call to us but he sounded far away, like I was underwater.

"Stupid boy! We will all die…" She was shaking now, her voice an echoing rasp. Some blue was seeping back into her flat, black eyes.

"We must run, run…will die, we'll all die!" Her words were disconnected and frantic. With a large shudder, Angel fell and I scrambled to catch and cradle her in my arms. The black was fading fast, a pinpoint in her eyes, a long dark tunnel I never wanted to go down.

"They're coming."

_A/N: Short, but content filled…just when you thought hell had stopped chasing them…as always feedback is delightfully accepted (it is almost Christmas) and as a present I'd love to hear what you think…anything I need to improve on, anything you don't like? Or better yet anything you do, please tell me. _

_Many apologies again. I hate my school._


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 24- Sweet Dreams**

_A/N: Happy new year everybody! _

They came. They came and took the flock, all of us. The School. We're in cages and our hands are bound by thick rope. I can't get them out. I've rubbed my wrists raw and bleeding from trying. The door opens, erasers and Whitecoats crowd closer, taunting and jeering, closer still till all I see is white cloth and fur, the odd flash of teeth.

They pull Midnight from her cage, I see the guns outside. I'm screaming and screaming, begging for all our lives and then just hers. They don't stop. We hear the shot and it's all over.

They walk back in to our small room. I don't know what colour it is there are so many bodies in it, writhing and moving, covering up the walls with their shadows. They come back for Iggy. There's so much screaming now, we're all shouting for him, even if he can't see us. Nudge and Rae reach from their cage to grab at him, they cling for a while and then their hands are beaten back. I see him smile a little and reach out to their cage. His fingers brush Rae's bruised still outstretched hand. She reaches farther but it's too late. The shot sounds. He's already gone.

I shift in my cage and hit something. I turn. It's Max. Silent tears are pouring down her sallow cheeks; her eyes are bright with pain. I bundle her close in my arms and kiss her softly. My tears mix with hers. I don't tell her it will be okay. It won't.

One by one, they come for us. I shout and scream until my voice is cracked and my mouth tastes bloody. My nose is filled with the smell of it. I beg for all their lives and then just the smaller ones, Alex, Rue, Angel, Gazzy and Nudge. The older ones don't care. They're begging for them too.

It's just me and Max now. I kiss and kiss her, knowing one of us is next. I tell her I'll see her soon, that I love her. She nods and repeats the words, holding on to me so tightly. I grip her hand and wait for the inevitable, my heart already breaking. It takes five minutes to prise all but our hands away. No amount of beating will make us let go. So they break her wrists. Her grip goes slack. I cling on. Finally they kick me away from her. I scramble up but the cage door is locked. By the time the gun sounds my heart is two lead pieces on the floor of my stomach.

The next few minutes of waiting are the longest of my life. I make a decision. They finally come for me and I explode from my cage. I'm not dying alone. I'm taking all these bastards with me. I Shift and suddenly it's a wolf fighting wolf men.

Pain. Shooting through my leg. I feel my body morph back. There's a long silver knife running through my lower left leg. Something green smeared on it. Poison, to force me to change back. I slump slightly, grit my teeth and yank. It tears free with a spray of blood. I get on my knees and force myself to my feet. My leg buckles. I stumble, but stay upright, the knife gripped loosely in my hand.

I'm halfway to the guns and already dying. They move forward in waves, claws grabbing. I slash at them but soon they force the knife from my hand and throw me to the ground in front of the Whitecoat holding the gun.

I look up. It's Jeb. He's grinning. I painfully start to get to my feet. They converge; he holds them back with the wave of an arm. I stretch out my wings. It could be for the last time. I stand there, bloody and broken but still standing. Alone. But not for long. He shoots.

He shoots.

He shoots.

I jolt awake with the shot still echoing in my ears, the feeling of blood running down my leg still there. I'm alive and still in the camp beside the lake. I scramble up. The Flock lie sleeping peacefully around me. All but one.

Angel is kicking and scrabbling on the ground, her blanket thrown off. She's whimpering and whispering 'take me instead'. Familiar or what. I hurry over and shake her awake.

"Angel, its Fang. Angel wake up!" Her eyes snap open, traces of black still in them. I couldn't keep the sense of dejavu from taking over for just a second.

"Fang! You're alive!"

"She flung herself at me. I caught her in a hug.

"Good to know Angel." She let out a small shaky laugh.

"I had the worst bad dream ever. The School came and got us and then-"

"Took us out one by one and shot us?" She flinched at my bluntness, but nodded, eyes wide.

"I had the same dream Angel." She laid her head on my shoulder.

"It was awful. They killed you first and Max went crazy. They killed Gazzy in front of me. I was last to go."

"That's not how mine was. I was last to die in my own dream."

"Did you take some of them with you? You did in my dream. So did Max and all the older kids. The younger kids tried, but…" I quickly cut in.

"Yes Angel. I took most of them with me." She grinned; an evil, vengeful grin and I let her. In fact, I grinned with her.

"When I was sent out there were only two erasers and the gunman left but…"

"It was Jeb." She nodded then stilled and we sat in silence for the next hour, until the first person woke. _

For the next few days the nightmares spread from person to person. The second night Max and I comforted Gazzy and Angel. Talking after they fell asleep, we figured the root of the dreams was Angel, but there was no way to stop it. Even Angel didn't have a clue. She got more anxious and jumpy as the days went on, insisting we leave. As the nightmares spread, I couldn't help but agree with her. Of course, we couldn't leave just yet. Alex wasn't fit to be moved, she could barely walk as it was, plus Nudge had yet to arrive.

The morning of day four without Nudge had me just about to go after her when the crack of a twig drew my attention over to a familiar dark skinned, stick like figure in tasteful trainers.

"Nudge!"

"Fang!" She ran to me and slung her arms around my waist. I petted her head awkwardly.

"Missed you kid." She smiled up at me. "How'd it go?"

"Great! The principal was all like 'whoa!' cause of the amount of kids you know? And a lot of them seem to have made friends already and their real lucky, the school I mean because all of them can speak though none of them do it half as much as me and you know how much I love talking so I started talking to them though Max would've said it was more like at them but they didn't seem to mind and…" I tuned her out pretty soon as you can imagine. It was a short walk to the clearing I called 'camp'. The flock plus extra's all crowded Nudge. She was happy for the attention, chatting away at anyone who would listen.

Our good luck continued with Iggy declaring later on that day that Alex could be moved. We packed up quickly and left, flying for maybe two hours north to a slightly thicker forest. Angel, Gazzy, Rae and I were the last to go to bed that night, worried the nightmares would continue. They never got any easier to deal with.

That night was no different. The only change being I was woken from my own hell by a kick in the back. It was Max. She was crying in her sleep. I turned and tried to shake her awake. She lashed out at me and I grabbed at her arms. She squirmed against my grip.

"No, no, no." She whimpered, struggling and kicking. I pinned her legs with my knees.

"Max, it's just me, Max! Max its Fang." She stopped fighting so suddenly I almost fell over. Instead, I unpinned her legs and let her fall against me, my arms naturally wrapping around her waist. She was sobbing into my shoulder.

"It's okay, I'm alive, we're all alive, everyone's fine." I repeated the words over and over, mumbling them into her hair until she quieted.

"We need to go Fang. We need to get farther away." She finally said.

"We will." I rubbed her back. "In the morning." I lay down, cradling her, and she rested her forehead against my chest, using my upper arm as a pillow. She fidgeted, every move caused her hair to brush against my arm and tickle me.

"Can you please stop fidgeting! What is wrong with my arm?" I whispered at her after the seventh time she'd shifted position. A small stain of pink formed on the apples of her cheeks.

"They're, eh, too hard."

"What?"

"The muscles in your arms are too hard!" She whispered ferociously back. "They're like rock!"

I stared at her incredulously. "You're complaining?"

"Yes!" She hissed. I smirked.

"Well then I definitely won't recommend sleeping on my stomach." She glared at me.

"You are incredible!" Her look of annoyance changed to curiosity as she gave my abdomen an experimental poke.

"I know."

"Fang!"

"Dudes" Crux waved to get our attention. "Interesting as it is, your lovers quarrel is gonna wake up the kids, so if you wouldn't mind keeping it down?"

"Uh, sure." He nodded his thanks and went back to keeping watch. I turned back to Max.

"So back to how incredible I am…" Needless to say Max hit me upside the head. And then I kissed her. Revenge, sweet revenge. We fell asleep with our legs entangled and our hands entwined. Neither of us had any more nightmares. We were however woken rather rudely by a blind pyromaniac and his pyrokinetic sidekick.

"Aw they look so cute!"

"Well I wouldn't know, now would I?"

"Sorry Iggy. I always forget." Rae's voice was gentle. I cracked my eyes open. Max eyelids fluttered up. A disgruntled expression manifested on her face.

"Iggy." She muttered, squinting and moving to shade her eyes from the too-bright sunlight.

"Let me finish for Max." I pulled myself into a sitting position and shot him and Rae a glare. "You are, collectively, dead."

"Woops," quipped Iggy. "Guess we got them a little too early."

"Damn straight." Max sat up beside me. We got to our feet facing off against the two of them.

"Shit," mumbled Iggy at Rae. "They're doing the double glare of doom, aren't they?"

"Yup." Gulped Rae.

"Bacon Iggy. Now. And you may live to see another day." Max rubbed her eyes as she spoke.

"Sir, yes sir!" He ran over to the fire before she could hit him, Rae at his heels, chuckling darkly. I started humming 'Love is in the air' as I passed him. He stiffened and it was my turn to chuckle darkly. He grabbed my arm.

"It is not like that." He ground out. "She's my friend. I do not like her that way."

"Of course you don't. Do you want to know what she looks like?" His reply was immediate.

"Yes, please."

"She's really pretty Ig. Sorta curly dark brown hair. Pale skin with a few freckles. Yellowy gold eyes. Tall and thin." He was practically drooling by the time I'd finished. I patted him on the shoulder.

"Sure you don't like her Ig. And that's why the bacon's burning." I walked away laughing as he scrambled to save the bacon.

Revenge, sweet revenge.

_A/N: We're almost there people! The end is in sight. So review and become a source of my happiness! _


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